Adolescent Dilemmas
by Fantasy is now Non-Fiction
Summary: Welcome to Tani no Yuki High School, an all-boys school full of prestigious young lads brimming with potential- Hold on a second! Then what're all those girls doing here? And why are half the boys flirts and delinquents! I think this leaflet is outdated... Multiple characters from different games involved!
1. Chapter 1

**A NOTE ON THE CHARACTERS AND SETTING: I'm using lots of characters from lots of different Harvest Moon games, the leading characters however will be... Skye and Jill (DS Cute), Claire, Kai (FoMT/MFoMT) and Vaughn and Chelsea (IoH) and also, either Dr. Trent (FoMT/MFoMT) or Dr. Alex (MM). There's a question about them a the bottom, so please read and answer if you have the time ^^**

**About the setting, Tani no Yuki translates into something like Valley of Snow I think and the school is placed in a valley (typically). It's like a town in the valley and there are houses for the students to live in if they want. The houses are separate to the school building though and students can either lie together or separately. There is also a town square for festivals and there a shops too, but no big shopping centre or anything like that. I hope that wasn't too confusing, but hey, just enjoy!**

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Chapter One: Tani no Yuki meets the girls.  
Gill sighed heavily, lifting up the crimson blazer to eye level. The first day of the new school year... Tani no Yuki _used_ to be an all-boys school, but then the government had to make budget cuts and, well...The ended up turning Tani no Yuki into an ordinary school. It was to be expected though, he slipped the blazer on over his crisp white shirt, checking his tie was straight before buttoning it up. Tani no Yuki, despite all its pompous get-up, was simply a rabble of delinquent boys. Save a few like himself of course. It was no wonder the government had decided to pick on them and hurl a pack of girls at them. He sighed again, picking up his bag and turning away from the mirror. He had to face it sooner or later and sooner was always better.

"Come on! I want to see all the hot chicks!" Kai yelled, jumping on Skye's bed again. He cracked an eye open groggily.  
"Time..."  
"Half eight, school started half an hour ago."  
"Two more hours..." Skye rolled over to face the wall and fell asleep again. Kai huffed and sat back on his heels, still balanced on the edge of his friend's bed. Vaughn stood in the doorway, hat tipped down low. Even without his blazer on, the cowboy hat made him look silly when he was in uniform. "Should we just go?" Kai asked. Vaughn shrugged and left the room. There was a crash from the kitchen downstairs and Skye was bolt upright in a millisecond. Kai fell off the bed in shock as the definitely-not-a-morning-person adolescent leapt from his bed in just an old T-shirt and shorts and crashed downstairs, yelling profanities in his wake.

Skye flew through the arc leading to the kitchen, just as Vaughn casually pushed another bottle of spices to the floor. The glass shattered at his feet. "What are you doing?!" Skye yelled, unable to strangle the cowboy thanks to not having shoes on.  
"Waking you up." Vaughn said as if it were the simplest thing in the world.  
"You've ruined all my spices! It took months to steal all of those!" Vaughn shrugged the complaints off, stepping over the mess and turning Skye around, marching him back up to his room. A uniform was thrown in his direction and Kai stood there proudly, "Get dressed, we've got hot chicks to flirt with!" Skye gave him a despondent, you-can't-be-saved look and picked the uniform up off the floor as his two friends left. Really, Skye didn't like flirting so much with girls like Kai did. Skye was a gentleman. A thief, yes, but being a gentleman he felt made up for that a bit. Kai just didn't seem to understand. With a sigh, Skye realised the tan boy was not going to give him the time to shower and make himself look good.

Jill sat, pencil scratching against the paper of her textbook, trying to avoid the numerous pairs of eyes on her. She wondered if it was just her, or if all of the girls were getting oggled at by the boys. It was as if they'd never seen a female before in their life. She held back a sigh and tried to focus on her work. She had to concentrate! Her eyes flicked to where Claire sat on the other side of the room, near the back of the class. Their eyes met reassuringly. Oh how Jill wished she could be sat next to her. Chelsea wasn't even in the same classroom as them anymore, which made it even worse. Those two always succeeded in making Jill quell her anxiousness. Not anymore though, she'd only be near them at break and lunchtimes. The thought still sent her stomach churning. She looked at the seat next to her. A rather unassuming boy with short bluish-silver hair was humming lightly to himself, swinging his legs a little and drawing fish in the corner of his book instead of answering the questions on the board. He was shortish and had his eyes closed happily. Jill bet he'd drawn so many fish over the years instead of working that he didn't _need_ to see the ink of his pen to know what it was he was drawing. Then again, maybe he was just doing it mindlessly? Loud voices travelled down the hall and a couple of heads turned to the door. It slid open and Jill's curiosity piqued. Three boys strode in, completely ignoring the teacher who had pursed his lips in an attempt to look calm. "Kai, Vaughn and Skye. What a pleasure it is to see you boys again on time as usual." The man bit sarcastically. Kai, Jill presumed, waved his hand nonchalantly, "What's up teach?" Jill saw the teacher grit his teeth.  
"Find a spare seat and sit down, I will be having a word with you after class." He seethed. Kai, the tanned boy with a purple bandana over his head scoured the room with his eyes, Jill saw them land on Claire and he whistled. "Plenty of hot chicks here I see." A grin rose to his face, but Claire didn't seem at all pleased. She turned away in disgust and Jill had to grab hold of the seat of her chair to stop herself from marching up to him and strangling him to death. "Just ignore him." The boy next to Jill whispered, still humming. Jill blinked, but relaxed and faced forwards again. Her eyes were scanning the next question when she was one of the boys who had come in waltz past her. Her heart leapt when she saw him, all porcelain skin and silver hair like a china doll. She looked quickly back to her textbook, trying to stop a blush from rising to her cheeks. He hadn't even paid her any mind and she was going red! What was she, a swooning little girl?! She had to concentrate. And yet, she noticed when he took the seat behind her.

"_Ooh!_ Can you believe that boy?" Claire hissed, face tinted red with anger as she stormed towards the benches in the school grounds. It as break time. Chelsea giggled as the blonde stomped her way ahead, fists clenched and brows knit into a deep scowl. She dumped herself on a bench and crossed her arms and legs. Jill poked her cheek on her way past and sat down. "Cheer up, he's just a flirt looking for the pretty ones." Claire flared up even more. "Then that's even worse! He's the type that I detest the most, the playboys and..." She trailed off into random insults quickly. Jill sighed and leant back, pulling at her ankles.  
"What's your class like Chelsea, are you sat next to anybody you know?" Chelsea shrugged.  
"It's alright, a bit on the loud side, but Mark's there."  
"Mark?"  
"Yeah, we used to be really tight friends when we were little kids, but I didn't get to see him much after he moved." Chelsea smiled, looking up at the clouds, "I'm glad they made it into a coeducational school." Jill shrugged and turned away. She had been pretty happy in the all-girls school. It had been less dramatic already and a lot more work-orientated. She sighed, she couldn't wait until the day was over.

"Bye, Chelsea!" Jill and Claire waved, smiles on their faces as their friend left to go to her own classroom. They turned to enter their own - always ones to be early to class - when they heard raised voices through the door. Claire withdrew her hand from the handle. "No wonder your grades are dropping, you're attitude is worse than your attendance. Don't you care about your futures?" Jill recognised the teacher's voice.  
"Ch. Like _we_ care old man!" That was Kai's voice. Jill frowned and peeked through the window set into the door. It was those three boys, still having their 'talk' with the teacher. "Should we leave?" Claire asked, though Jill could tell from the glint in her eyes that she was enjoying hearing the flirt being yelled at. Someone coughed behind them. "_Aaaiiiiiieeeee!_"

There was a scream and two loud thuds rattled the door. The teacher and three boys jolted, hearts suddenly racing from the sudden noise. The door slid open and Toby smiled in, stepping over two girls from their class. He gave no explanation, just went and sat down in his seat and acted as if he expected the lesson to begin. Jill and Claire moaned, rubbing their heads as they sat up. "Toby, what was _that_ for?" Kai asked, raising an eyebrow. He smiled but said nothing. "It's okay," Jill laughed nervously, going red in the face. She helped Claire up, "He just caught us off guard is all." One of the boys, the one in the cowboy hat, gave them a deadly glower from beneath the rim of his hat. _What's his problem?_ Jill wondered, going to take her seat next to Toby. Claire went to her own and the three boys were dismissed to go to their seats too. The bell rang, signaling the end of break and the start of lessons. Five and a half hours to go.

"Finally!" Jill cried, stretching out her arms above her head, "It's over!" Chelsea and Claire giggled,  
"What, you don't like school Jill?" They asked. Jill gave them a pouty frown.  
"They don't concentrate on work enough, it's stupid."  
"That's funny coming from you." Chelsea poked her arm, "You used to be one of the worst delinquents our school had ever known!"  
"Yeah, but at least I kept my grades up. I was a _clever_ delinquent." The brunette tapped her head. Claire rolled her eyes,  
"Yeah, you'd like to think that wouldn't you?"  
"Hey!"

"What are you smirking about?" Skye asked, exasperated at Kai's cheeky grin and antics. He'd tried to 'grope' five girls that day alone. Kai wiggled his brows suggestively, "You up for a game?" He asked.  
"Whatever it is that you're thinking, I'm not getting involved."  
"Aw, you're so blunt Skye..." Kai whined, pretending to cling to the other boy's arm. "I just wanted to see who could get a girlfriend first."  
"You won that one a long time ago." Skye just wanted to go home, sleep and prepare for his nightly raid of the village. _Besides,_ He thought,_ No woman would ever want a thief, no matter how gentlemanly he may be._ Kai huffed and looked up at the sky,  
"Fine then. I'll just go ask Vaughn."  
"You know what he'll say-"  
"_Vaughn!_ Wanna see who can get a girlfriend first?!" One thick-soled, heavy cowboy boot smashed into Kai's face.  
"Go to hell!"  
"-and do." Skye finished, ignoring the tanned boy grovelling on the floor for mercy.

Finally at their three-bedroom, one-bathroom house, Skye threw his tie onto the arm of the sofa, stripped off his blazer on the staircase, one shoe was kicked down the stairs and the other landed elegantly atop the unused linen basket. He flopped face-first onto his unkempt bed, his sigh of relief muffled by the sheets. The deep breaths of sleep followed.

Vaughn huffed, eyes scanning over the mess Skye had left behind. Could he be bothered cleaning up after the night owl? No. What he _did_ have to clean up though, was the shattered glass and pile of spices scattered over the kitchen floor. Maybe he could lump it off on Skye... No, best not. Kai would probably stand on the glass if it wasn't in the bin soon. Closing his eyes against an oncoming headache, he opened the cupboard where the dustpan and brush was kept. _Great... _"_Kai!_ Where's the Goddamned dustpan and brush?!"

Jill hung her uniform up neatly in her wardrobe, ready and waiting for the next day. She exhaled slowly, _Calm Jill, calm._ She opened her eyes. _Calm._ Her toes curled around the lilac carpet of her bedroom and she pulled at it, lifting it up a bit. "Calm." Turning, her long brown hair now in a low ponytail, she sat down at her desk, switching the lamp on. Her eyes scanned over the books in front of her. Science, maths, english, history, geography... She pulled out the maths one from under the rest, flicking a few pages back. _To change the subject of the formula..._

Jill woke up to her phone ringing. She moaned and pushed herself up, stumbling slightly. She could feel the indentation left by the books on her desk in her cheek. _Great... I fell asleep studying again..._ Shaking that despondent thought from her head, she trotted out of her room and downstairs, picking up the phone on the set of drawers at the bottom of the staircase. "Hello?" Her eyes roamed her house aimlessly. There was light spilling through the kitchen window. _"Hey Jill, me and Chelsea are heading over now, so you'd better be ready!"  
_"Yeah, yeah, okay. See you in a bit." She heard Claire giggle over the phone and hang up. Jill set the phone down. "_Shit_."

Skye rubbed shampoo into his hair casually, he'd just gotten back from the Inner Inn in Forget-Me-Not Valley. It wasn't too far away, but it wasn't exactly close to home either. When he had a shower, it always felt as if he were washing away all the bad deeds he had done, even if just for a moment. A mere few minutes. His thoughts wandered to school and if he would bother turning up at all that day. He poked his head out of the shower and looked in the mirror. A smudge of shadow was cast under his eyes and he frowned. Bags. How displeasingly vulgar. Retreating back under the hot water, he washed out the shampoo. _I don't think I'll be going in today..._

Jill brushed her teeth madly, hot water pummeling down on her head. It was too hot, scalding the hand that rubbed shampoo into her hair, but she didn't have the time to change the temperature now. Spitting out the toothpaste into the shower drain and hurling the brush to the side, she rinsed out the shampoo, kicked the tap off with her foot and leapt out of the shower whilst wringing her hair. She whipped a towel off the rack and dashed down the hall to her room, snatching up the hairdryer and blasting her face with it, simultaneously rubbing herself down with the towel. Casting that aside, she flung the doors to her wardrobe open, pulling out her uniform. Still with the hairdryer aimed at her face, she pulled on her shirt, having to switch hands, buttoned it up, jumped about trying to hitch up her skirt and then fell over. The doorbell rang. Letting out a long note of panic, she switched the hairdryer off and ran for the door, snatching up her bag and tie on the way down.

"I actually prefer strawberries to turnips." Chelsea told Claire, "They may take longer to grow, but they're so much sweeter!"  
"Yes, but you can't really preserve strawberries, not to mention, you can use turnips in a lot more cooking dishes than strawberries-" The door flew open, almost coming off its hinges. Chelsea and Claire blinked at the bedraggled Jill standing in the doorway. Chelsea snorted and soon after they were both laughing at the brunette. "S- shut up! It was almost a record speed."  
"G- get your socks." Claire managed to gasp out. Jill huffed, dumped her bag, and ran up the stairs to find her socks. She stomped back downstairs, tie done up and with socks on her feet, grabbed her bag and slipped on her shoes and stepped out of her house. "Right. I'm ready, you can stop chortling now."

A look of distaste swept across Jill's features when she and Claire entered their class. Not only was it a rambunctious _mess_, but one of the pupils was _asleep!_ Her teeth ground together, especially when she noticed it was the silver-haired porcelain doll she had blushed at the day before. Sure, she had realised he was a delinquent from the start, but so had she been and _she _hadn't taken her morning nap in class! She was not only ashamed of herself, but also disgusted that someone could be so... grossly disrespectful. Her lips puckered in annoyance as she sat down, noticing how the unassuming boy next to her was drawing fish again. This time decorating his desk with them. She was really losing her patience with this school. "Hey Skye, you'd better wake up, teach is comin'." The boy to Jill's left reached over behind her and rocked the silver-haired boy's shoulder. He groaned and swatted the hand away. "Two more hours Kai..." He mumbled out.  
"It's not Kai, it's Chase." The boy next to Jill corrected. "Come on, you've got to get your head off the desk at least."  
"Teach'll just be happy I'm in on time." Jill could hear how Skye's voice was slurred from sleep. She was losing her temper with him and fast. "Skye, wake up or you're gonna get yelled at again-"  
"Don't care, just let me sleep..." Jill snapped then. She turned around and pulled up the boy's head by his silver hair.  
"If you're so tired, then why did you even bother _coming_ to school today? You obviously don't do or _want_ to do anything, so just stop wasting everybody's time and go home!" A few heads turned, but Skye didn't seem abashed at all. In fact, he yawned straight in her face.  
"Pony has a temper~" He sang out before his eyes slid just and his breathing turned deep and heavy.  
"Pony?!" Jill seethed, dropping Skye's head so it bumped onto the table with a nasty-sounding crack. He didn't even stir. Still miffed off, she turned around and immersed herself in her books. Hunger clawed at her stomach annoyingly, but she pushed it aside to concentrate on her work before the teacher came. He was late and once again she thought of what a shabby school this was.

Skye, thank the Goddess, was relatively awake after lunch. It must have been something to do with the smell of curry wafting in from one of the cooking rooms down the hall. It smelt delightful, but in need of a little more turmeric. An angry growl came from the stomach of the girl in front of him - Pony he had decided to nickname her, she had two ponytails afterall. He smirked as she punched her abdomen in an attempt to stanch the rumbling. It did nothing of the sort and he could see heads turning every so often to look at her. The tips of her ears were tinted red in embarrassment.

Jill realised with a dread that lunch wasn't for another one and a half hours yet. Her face was burning from the embarrassment of people looking at her, she could feel the stares drilling into her and the murmurs running through the class. She tried to focus on her work, dipping her head so that her fringe hid her face a bit. The movement of her head made her dizzy and the feeling of nausea only heightened. She really needed food and fast. She peeked over at Claire, but she had her head down, working. _Figures, she always liked maths..._ Jill looked back to her own work, _Maybe I could just pretend to be ill? I know how to do all of this already anyway so I won't have to do any catching up and-  
_"Hey Pony." Jill jumped when somebody poked her in the back. Her chair screeched back a bit and everybody turned to look at her. Her face went beet red and she stuck her nose in her book to hide her face. "Pony." Skye again. Jill's eye twitched. Why was he calling her _Pony?_ She turned to glare at him. "_What?_" She hissed, an open packet of chewits were waved in her face,  
"Want one?"

A crumpled up note bounced onto Chelsea's desk. She looked to find the sender and Mark waved next to her. Flattening it out, she read the note.

_Teach has a nasally voice ;P_

She snorted, slapping a hand over her mouth. Mark grinned and leant back in his chair, kicking up his feet. Chelsea threw a note at his face.

_Shut-up._

_I wasn't talking._

_-_- You know what I mean.  
Are you coming round to mine tonight or what?_

_So long as I don't get cooties XP_

_I can't promise Jill and Claire won't try and hit you =/  
Strap your hat to your head though and you should be okay XD_

_You've got a deal then :D_

The bell for the end of school rang and Jill leapt up, snatching up her bag and dashing out of the classroom. Skye chuckled, sauntering over to Kai and Vaughn. "You seem awake." Vaughn muttered, ignoring the five-hundredth paper ball that hit the back of his head.  
"Bullseye." Kai sung out, getting up out of his chair. Skye exhaled heavily, "I want to go back to sleep." He admitted, picking up a paper ball and writing _Obnoxious Loser_ on it before sticking it to the back of Kai's shirt with a bit of selotape that had been stuck to the desk. "Hey!" Kai complained, trying to take it off. It was stuck right where he couldn't reach it. "What'd you write on it?!"  
"It's a compliment, I assure you." Skye noted dryly, leaving the classroom. Kai watched him go with a confused expression on his face,  
"Jeez, what's up with him?"  
"He wants to sleep."

"So this is Mark!" Chelsea grinned, introducing them to her childhood friend. Jill and Claire eyed him.  
"He has a hat." Claire said.  
"That he does."  
"Is my hat going to be okay Chelsea?" Mark asked, a note of worry tinging his voice.  
"Probably not, which is why I suggest you start running!" She slapped him on the back and he stumbled forwards. "Go Mark, go! You have a five second lead!" Jill and Claire handed their bags to Chelsea and she waved them off. "Have fun!"

"Hey gorgeous," Chelsea turned to face the voice, a frown on her face. A tan boy with a purple bandana on his head grinned at her, "Could you tell me about your blonde friend?" She looked from him to the tall, dark cowboy next to him. They were both in her school's uniform.  
"Who are you and why'd you want to know?"  
"I'm interested in her." His grin was still plastered to her face.  
"If you're so interested in her then you should talk to her yourself." Chelsea had the funny feeling that this boy was the one Claire had gotten so angry about. "Besides, I need to go now." _Mark doesn't know how to get to my house._ She turned and walked off.

Skye looked out of his window, watching the group of three - one boy and two girls - run around down the path going past his house. The girls were from his class and one of them was Pony. They were trying to grab the boys hat. Another girl trotted into his view. She had chestnut eyes and was carrying three bags in her hands. The boy ran to her and hid behind her. Pony stuck her tongue out at him and they all continued on their way home. Skye sighed sat back on his bed, head leaning against the cool wall. It was going to be a warm night tonight, so where should he steal from?

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**Well, I hope you liked it ^^ I've never really written a high school FanFic before, so any feedback would be nice.**

QUESTION!  
Dr. Alex or Dr. Trent? I can't finish the next chapter without a vote, because I can't decide.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of its characters, only the plot of this FanFiction and Tani no Yuki High School**

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Chapter Two: Jill?  
The phone rang and Jill let out a groan, lifting her head. A textbook unstuck itself from her cheek and fell to the desk. _I have a bed, why don't I use it for once?_ Her hand groped for the phone, she had taken it upstairs just in case a fiasco like that morning occurred again. She lifted it to her ear, "Hello?"  
_"J- Jill?"_ Claire's shaking, stuttering voice wavered over the phone line.  
"Claire? You okay?"  
_"J- Jill, I think there's someone in my house. W- what do I do?"_ Jill's eyes darkenned.  
"Stay right where you are, I'll be there in a sec." She hung up and leapt to her feet, snatching her hoodie from the back of the chair and bombing her way out of the house.

Claire froze again at the sound of a cupboard door opening downstairs. They were in the kitchen. Were they looking for a weapon? Something to threaten and torture her with? What if they found her, they'd have to kill her to stop her from telling the police. Oh God, why'd she call Jill? She should have called the police! Her hands shook as she lifted the phone to her face, squinting at the numbers in the dark. Her thumb hovered over the first nine- A horrendous crash from the kitchen made her screech and drop the phone.

Jill cracked the door to Claire's house open. _The lock must've been picked._ She scanned the dark room, searching for whoever had scared the living hell out of her friend. A dark figured moved in the inky blackness and Jill froze. Her heart was pounding in her throat as she slowly slid one foot in front of the other, hand taking up the vase of flowers near the door. Her bare feet were numb and yet sore from running all the way to Claire's house and they were difficult to walk on silently. The figure rummaging about the kitchen didn't even notice Jill sneaking p on him until it was too late. Jill raised the vase above the person's head and they turned around, a spice bottle in hand. "_RRAAH!_" The vase smashed on his head and he crashed to the ground, spice bottle skittering from his hand. Jill swooped down on the dazed thief, pinning him down with one knee and gripping the collar of his shirt. "_Claire!_ I got him! You can come down now, it's safe!"

"_Claire!_ I got him! You can come down now, it's safe!" Claire lifted her face from her trembling hands.  
"J- Jill..." She stumbled as she stood and ran downstairs into the kitchen, flicking the lights on. "Jill, thank the Goddess you're here, I was so scared and- Is that Skye?" Jill looked down.  
"So it is..." She got up, pulling him with her. He was still dazed and a bit confused. "I bet he's a pervert like his buddy Kai." She snapped, dragging him into Claire's lounge and dumping him on the sofa. "But at least he's a scraggly wimp, we can take him if he tries to run." She grinned, showing her fist. Claire giggled,  
"I can't believe I got so scared of him!"  
"Well it's not like you _knew_. Hey, Skye. Wake up perv."  
"..._ Pony?_" He slurred out, tongue thick and a huge welt pressuring the top of his head. He wished he'd stayed home...  
"Jill. J I L L. Jill. Not 'Pony'." She huffed, standing up straight. "What the hell were you doing in Claire's house?"  
"Just... got lost. Thought it was where I lived..."  
"Liar." Claire snapped. Skye's eyes narrowed and his jaw set. So did Jill's. If it was a contest of stubbornness, she would most assuredly win. "You're either a pervert, a thief, or both. Now spit it out." She waved her hand at Claire, who hurried back into the kitchen and tossed her the iron spatula. Jill pointed it in Skye's face. "Come on, spill. You're not leaving until you do." Skye groaned and threw his head back, flinging an arm over his eyes. "You asked for it..."  
"Asked for what? Hey! Sit back down-"  
"CHICK BEAM... _FIRE!_" Both Jill and Claire jolted at the sudden yell. The brunette recovered fast though, yelling out the silver-haired boy's name as he walked on past. She tried to raise the spatula to knock him out, but gasped when she found she couldn't so much as twitch a finger. Claire was in much the same predicament. "_Skye!_ What the hell did you do to us?!" He smirked.  
"Don't worry, the spell will wear off in a couple of hours."  
"_Hours?_ What if I need to pee?!" Claire cried out, "Or if I get an itch?" Skye only chuckled and the door swung shut behind him.  
"He's a dead man." Jill bit out.

"Noooo... Mark, don't you dare-" Chelsea screeched out a laugh, ducking behind the kitchen counter as a lump of porridge flew at her. It splatted against the wall and Chelsea's dog barked, wagging her tail. Chelsea thrust her hand into the bowl of cold porridge at her feet, scooped up a handful and launched her attack over the counter. Their was a satisfying splat and the sound of Mark spitting out the ammunition. Chelsea peeked over the counter and snorted at the blonde's face. He shot her a glare and she ducked again, but not before her bandana was hit. "Ha!" He barked out triumphantly, "Got you."  
"Yeah, well..." She leapt out from the cover of the kitchen and dashed at the boy. His face transformed into shock and he hurled more porridge at her. "Get _this!_" She tackle him, shoving her bowl into his face. He choked and thrashed, throwing porridge all over the house. Chelsea was shrieking with laughter, her dog was barking madly and even Mark was trying to laugh through all of the porridge. "Okay, okay." Chelsea let out a sigh, laced with a giggle. "We'd better stop now, Tetsu's getting agitated." Mark pushed the bowl off his face and wiped away the thick, gloopy mess clinging to his face. "Well, I won anyway, so it's all good as far as I'm-"  
"Did not! _I _won!"  
"No way, you lost and I won, that's final-" Chelsea shoved cold porridge in his mouth a grinned, victorious once again.  
"Who won?"  
"..._ You_..."  
"That's a good boy."

"Bye Mark," Chelsea smiled, waving her friend off. He waved back, grinning.  
"Seeya tomorrow Chels!" Tetsu barked and wagged her tail.  
"Seeya!" He disappeared around the corner and she closed the door.  
"Right," She clapped her hands together and surveyed the newly-cleaned kitchen and lounge, "Now to do my homework."

Jill woke up groggily, pushing back her fringe. "_Ow..._" Her back cracked when she stretched and so did her arms. She looked around. _Claire's house?_ "Hey Claire, did you kidnap me again?" The blonde moaned and pulled herself up, she had been behind the sofa.  
"No, don't you remember?" She received a blank look, but then everything seemed to flood back into her friend's memory because she let out a fearsome growl. "That silver-haired son of a-"  
"Female dog." Claire interrupted. Her eyes caught on the light streaming through the curtains then and she gasped, "What time is it?!"  
"How would I know?"  
"Ten?! Jill, we're super late, what'd we do?!"  
"Run around like headless chickens and hope nobody notices we're two hours late?"  
"_Jill!_"  
"Alright, alright, we can just play hooky like in the old days-"  
"Be _serious!_"  
"Fine, where's your bike?"

Ten minutes later, Claire and Jill were bombing it down the path, yelling. Jill's legs were hardly visible she was peddling so fast and the houses had all turned to a blur. As they were hurtling past the forest, Jill's gaze snatched on a group of three boys casually making their way in the opposite direction. She recognised the silver-haired boy before she could even see his uniform. She bellowed out another yell, even louder than her previous ones and the bicycle wheels turned faster and faster.

Skye, for once, was wide awake and walking at the head of the group. He wasn't too pleased with how his raid had gone last night, though at least he had stuck a few bottles of other herbs and spices into his pockets before he was assaulted. _Assaulted..._ Somehow he thought that was the wrong word for the circumstances. He _had_ been stealing from them after all. He looked up, a smirk playing on his face, it had been fun though, seeing Pony's face when he had frozen her to the spot. Maybe he'd tease her next time or- Skye heard a roar and no sooner had his eyes widenned that an arm slammed into his throat, throwing him to the floor. His head cracked against the path and his head spun, skin smarting from the grazes inflicted upon it. He groaned, ears pounding, he only just heard the cackling laughter and the startled call of a name, "Jill!" Then spots clouded his vision and his muscles fell limp.

"Jill Suzumiya, please come to the infirmary immediately. I repeat, Jill Suzumiya, please come to the infirmary immediately." Jill huffed, ignoring all of the stares she was receiving from her 'classmates'. She shot Claire a look, hoping she'd get the meaning. _I told you we should have played hooky._

"Ah, Suzumiya, I'm glad you're here." The school nurse, Irene, bustled over from beside one of the beds. Jill's eyes caught on the person in it and her lips tightened, jaw setting. "What is it?"  
"Steiner's friends brought him in this morning. He's been diagnosed with concussion, which is very serious and apparently," Jill could see where this was going. "You're the one who caused it." With a huff, the brunette decided to go back to her delinquent days. She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head, a sickly sweet smile emerging on her face. "And how did they reach that conclusion?" She hated having to do this, but she knew that if she got into any more trouble with schools, then she'd just give up on herself and quit high school. If she could just manage to wriggle her way out of this mess... "They said they recognised you and your friend on a bicycle, they also said that your friend called out your name."  
"Really now? And how many other blondes are friends with brunettes called Jill in this entire world?" Irene's lips twitched and she inhaled deeply. "I suppose you have a point there, Suzumiya, however this is classed as assault in this area and we will have to call the police in to investigate if this matter isn't sorted out." Jill almost let slip a growl. She was in even deeper trouble now. "Now, did you give Steiner concussion?"

"So apparently it was wasn't a tumour, but Sir said I was pretty close." Trent shrugged. Elli looked up at him admirably,  
"That's really good, Trent." She smiled and Gina nodded,  
"Yes."  
"If you keep on working, you might just reach my level sooner or later." Jin joked, he was the so-called 'genius' of the science block. He was so good that he'd already taken his advanced medics test and passed, which allowed him to work some clinic hours. Alex, trent's twin, was only a few steps behind him and therefore only allowed to work a few clinic hours a week. They rounded the corner and walked into the clinic, still yattering away. "I told you already, I did _not_ give him concussion!" The group stopped in their tracks. A brunette sat in Irene's swivel-chair, glowering at the woman as if it could make her see her point. "Suzumiya, please don't waste any more of your schooling time-"  
"To hell with that! I already know everything they have to teach me!"  
"Irene?" The old nurse and the brunette turned at the voice.  
"Oh, Jin." Irene managed an almost-sweet smile. "Would you mind leaving us be for a moment? I know it's lunch and you usually sit here, but..." She gestured to Jill, who had put on a sour face. Jin nodded, understanding. "Wait, can't we help?" Elli asked, "I've been trained in psychology, if that would be of any use..." She trailed off, cheeks turning red.  
"I don't need counseling!" Jill yelled.  
"O- of course not, I just-" Elli stuttered, Trent placed a hand on her shoulder, but it only made her face turn redder and stutterings disintegrate into indiscernable mumblings. "Suzumiya," Irene's cold voice cut through the commotion easily. "If you do not begin to tell the truth, then I will have to bring your friend in here aswell and we both know that would be causing more trouble than it is worth."  
"I already told you woman, I didn't give him concussion, what do you think I did? Give him a concussion injection?! Besides, if it's so much trouble to bring Claire in, then don't bother!"  
"Suzumiya, please stop yelling." Irene said sharply. Jin came and placed a hand on Jill's shoulder,  
"Please calm down."  
"Don't tell me what to do-"  
"Please lie her down," Irene sighed. Alex and Trent stepped forwards, taking the brunette by her arms and dragging her over to the other spare bed. "It might make her more reasonable. Jin, please fetch Claire Harrington for me."  
"Right."  
"Hey, come on, she needs her lunch break, leave her out of this!" Jin was already gone.

"The infirmary?" Claire repeated, trotting alongside Jin. He jerked his head in a nod.  
"Your friend, Jill, she gave Skye Steiner concussion or so we believe, though she won't admit it. Irene believes she is lying and so, we need you." Claire sighed, "Typical Jill, always getting into trouble." Jin opened the door to the infirmary and Claire stepped in. She caught a glimpse of a fist and a black-haired boy flew back into the wall. "Get off me!" She heard Jill's growl. She sounded like a cornered animal, just like in the old days. Claire's lips twisted down into a slight frown and she hurried behind the curtain.

Jill was desperately thrashing about, trying to get off one of the two infirmary beds. "I don't need to _calm down!_" She yelled out. Another black-haired boy was trying to restrain her and receiving numerous kicks and punches in the process. "It looks like you do to me." Claire smiled sweetly, cocking her head to the side and clasping her hands in front of her. Jill stopped twisting and writhing and looked up. "Claire." The blonde looked at her friend, "Jill I thought you said that you would stop this kind of thing."  
"Claire, I know, but-" Claire shook her head disappointedly, Jill had sworn she would never go back to her delinquent ways, but now she had and Claire didn't know how long for this time. "Jill, take a deep breath and assess the situation. Was it worth getting all het up for?" Jill's gaze fell to her lap and her shoulders slumped. Alex warily released his grip from around her wrists. "No."  
"Looking back on what you thought the consequences for your actions would be, were they all that bad? Worth all that trouble?"  
"No..."  
"Then will you tell them the truth now? It won't turn out bad, I promise." Claire gave Jill a tight smile, "Come on, I'll be right there with you." She held out her hand and Jill took it, albeit reluctantly. Irene looked up when Jill and Claire walked out from behind the curtained-off area. "I'm sorry for lying." Jill mumbled, bowing her head. Her cheeks had turned a light shade of pink. Claire had put everything into perspective, she wasn't going to give up on herself. She was too stubborn for that. "I did give Skye concussion, but I didn't mean to! It's just, he scared Claire and I wanted to show him that I wouldn't stand for that." Irene exhaled slowly.  
"Don't do it again. Luckily, his head injury wasn't that severe, otherwise it would be a whole different matter. Though, I will have to punish you somehow..."

"Agh, why'd it have to be cleaning windows?" Jill sighed, wiping off the window cleaner with an old cloth. Irene, the old nurse, was knitting contently in her chair. Jill stuck her tongue out at the woman. "Stupid old biddy..."

* * *

**Thank-you for the reviews and follows, I really appreciate it! As it turns out, I didn't need a choice between Dr. Alex and Dr. Trent for this chapter, but for the next. Thanks to Dreamless-Sleep777 though, we have an answer!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I might have forgotten to upload this yesterday...  
Discalimer: I do not own Harvest Moon, only Tetsu, Tani no Yuki High School and where it is set.**

* * *

Chapter Three: The doctor.

"Hey!" Claire called out. Alex turned around and stopped. She caught up with him and paused, catching her breath. "Are you okay?" She asked, still panting mildly. "I know Jill can have quite a punch." Alex chuckled with her and rubbed his ribs, "She's got quite the kick too."

"Well..." Claire cheeks turned a faint pink. "So long as you're alright and everything..." She bowed slightly and ran off. Alex stared after her. A small smile found its way to his lips and he shook his head.

"Who was _that_ you were talking to?" Chelsea teased, poking Claire in the arm.  
"Uh- um, just Alex. Jill kicked him, so, you know, I was just seeing if was alright..." Chelsea grinned slyly,  
"Really now?"  
"Y- yes, really!"  
"I think you've got a little cr-"  
"Oh look, it's starting to rain, we should hurry!" Claire pushed Chelsea forwards because it was actually starting to rain.  
"So it is!" Chelsea laughed, "If we run, we might beat it!"

Jill huffed, pushing strings of straggly wet hair from her forehead. Just perfect. It _had_ to rain, didn't it? She threw the cloth at the window and it fell down into the muddy ground. "_Great..._"

The rain pounded down even harder, the path becoming dangerously slippery with mud. Claire and Chelsea dashed under the cover of the trees overhanging the path. They laughed, wringing out their sodden clothes a bit and shivering when a gust of wind rushed past them. "Well," Chelsea pulled off her bandana and wrung it out too. "I guess that plan failed." She pushed her soaked hair back and retied her bandana.  
"You can say that again." Claire looked up at the stormy sky, "When d'you think it'll stop?"  
"Not any time soon, c'mon."

"I almost feel sorry for them." Vaughn noted, watching a blonde girl and a chesnut-haired girl dash past through the blinding rain. Kai looked over his shoulder, just catching a glimpse of the two girls dashing past the path leading to Vaughn, Kai and Skye's place. "Hey, the hot chick can run."  
"Maybe she'd pay more attention to you if you actually learnt her name?" Vaughn huffed, pushing the door open.  
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Kai stepped inside after him and kicked his shoes off. The grumpy cowboy hadn't let him share the umbrella, so all of his clothes were wet through and sticking to his skin. Vaughn shook his umbrella out, spraying water on his friend. "Hey!"  
"I'm cooking tonight, what do you want?" Kai growled, he hated it when people ignored him!  
"Anything but porridge." He gritted out sourly.  
"Right." As soon as Vaughn disappeared into the rest of the kitchen, Kai began stripping off his cream-coloured school vest and his shirt. He dumped them on the ground and started upstairs. "Hey! Is Skye going to be home tonight?" Vaughn called up.  
"Dunno, the old nurse said she'd bring him over when he woke up!"  
"Helpful..." Vaughn sighed to himself, scouring the cupboards for anything other than pineapple, porridge ingredients or curry stuff.

Jill huffed, watching Irene leave the clinic. _"I'm sorry, but I have to leave now, there's urgent business at home that I must attend to. Please take Steiner home once he wakes up, see it as part of your punishment. Remember, he needs to wake up naturally."_ That was how all this happened. Now she had to babysit an unconscious thief. Her eyes drifted to the boy laying perfectly still in the clinic bed, his chest rising and falling softly. He really did look just like a porcelain doll. She pursed her lips and looked to the desk where a half-empty bottle of water sat. She could just... Bring him round. It would be naturally of course, water was a natural resource after all so it wasn't like she'd be slapping him about the head. She picked up the bottle and unscrewed the cap, smirking to herself. "_Rise and shine Mr. Thief!_" She yelled and threw the water over his head. He jolted so violently he fell out of the bed. "Hahahahaha!" Jill cackled madly at his face when he got up, dripping with water and looking as if he could singlehandedly raise hell. "And what, pray tell, was that for?" He bit out. Jill straightenned and wiped a tear from her eye,  
"Good, you're up. Now I can go home, seeya." She waved to Skye and left the room. No way was she going to walk home with a thief. She had morals! Besides, he was friends with that Kai fella, so he was bound to be a pervert to top it all off.

Coming to the front doors of the school, Jill stopped. The rain was lashing it down and she could barely see ten feet in front of her it was so heavy. Her face twisted into a look of despair and she groaned, slamming her head into one of the concrete posts next to her. _I wonder if I left my waterproof in my locker? Better yet, an umbrella._ She turned and traipsed back into school, finding her locker and digging trough her cream school cardigan to find her keys. Pulling them out triumphantly, she opened her locker and looked into the jungle of mess. It had barely been half the week and she had filled it with rubbish already. "Oh great, where'd I put it?" She seemed to remember having thrown it in here sometime during the week... Then she remembered. "Aargh! Damn it all! She slammed the locker door shut. "That was last year at Suna Girl's Academy..." Something suddenly poked her in the back and she screamed, whirling around and punching her assailant. Skye stumbled back, clutching his cheek and cursing. "For God's sake, it was just an umbrella!" He held up the offending object and Jill lowered her fist.  
"Oh, sorry." She let out a nervous laugh. Skye didn't seem to find it funny.  
"Do you want to walk under it or not?"  
"Of course I do!" She snapped.  
"Then come on." He smirked, walking towards the front doors.  
"Hey! I'm not walking _with _you!"  
"You are if you want to stay dry." Jill worked her mouth, then clamped it shut and stormed after his retreating back. He stepped out into the rain, opening the umbrella. Jill dashed under it. "This doesn't mean I like you."  
"Sure, just think of it as compensation for throwing water on me."

"You didn't have to walk _all_ of the way with me!" Jill snapped, glaring up at Skye with her hands on her hips. That stupid porcelain doll annoyed her _sooo_ much! Every little thing about him got on her nerves, even the fact that he was taller than her. "I know you live in that house in the forest! And it's not like I _can't_ walk in the rain anyways." Skye shrugged, watching as the rain caught her arm, which the porch of her house wasn't overhanging. "There are all sorts of bad men lurking around, it would be against my nature to let a lady such as yourself walk home alone." Jill face turned red and she puffed out her cheeks. "Let's not forget who beat up who twice already!" The porcelain doll only chuckled. "What's so funny?" Jill snapped, starting to search through her pockets for her keys. A cold dread seeped through her. "Oh no... No, no, _no!_" She yelled, kicking the door ferociously. Skye blinked,  
"Don't tell me your forgot your keys..."  
"Shut your trap, thief!" Skye's pride was somehow wounded at that comment as true as it was. Jill continued to batter her door.  
"Silly Pony," He stepped under the porch and shouldered her aside lightly, passing over the umbrella.  
"H- hey!" Her face burned red hot and she stumbled back into the rain. "What are you..." Skye crouched in front of the lock and a few moments later, there was a click and the door swung inwards. "There you go," He gestured inside, "Never underestimate me." He winked, flashing her the peace sign. "Um... yeah, whatever." She ducked past him, passing over the umbrella. "Seeya then." She waved quickly and shut the door before he could say anything.

Skye blinked and sighed. "Be careful Pony! Don't let anyone in!" And he turned away, striding back into the pounding rain until it swallowed him up completely.

Jill rubbed at her searing cheeks. "What the hell? He thinks he can just pick the lock to my door?! I don't care if he intended that to be seen as good or bad, it's downright rude! I could've gone and stayed over at Claire's for the night and got my keys in the morning, no big deal, but _nooo_, Mr. Silver-haired freak just _had_ to butt in, didn't he?" She huffed and kicked her shoes off so hard they hit the top stair and came tumbling back down. The mud they left on the carpet was an ugly brown colour. "_Fannnntastic._"

"Uhhh... Just what exactly... is this?" Kai pointed an accusing finger at the plate of... well, that was just it. Vaughn's glare crept out from under the dark rim of his hat. "It's chicken and pineapple with a herb paste, why?" He said it as if it were obvious.  
"You used my pineapples?!" Kai yelled. "For _this_ culinary abomination, how could you _do_ that?!"  
"I keep telling you that I can only make porridge, but you and Skye never listen to me."  
"Who cares?! But... speaking of Skye, d'you think he's woken up yet?"  
"How should I know? Just eat your food." Kai sat himself down resignedly.

Skye scanned the school's locker room carefully for an security cameras or traps. Nothing. He sighed and stood up. He was only able to see the shapes of objects through the gloom of the night. Outside it was still raining. Getting to work, he stalked through the rows and rows of locker walls, trying to remember which one held Pony's locker and therefore her keys. He didn't really know why exactly he was doing this, he just knew that he had this undying compulsion to do so. He kept telling himself that he just didn't want anyone breaking into her house, you never knew what kind of people were skulking about at night. Besides, it was what anybody else would have done, right? He saw a half-open locker with a set of keys sticking out of it and hurried forwards. Yes, they were Pony's. Locking her locker and taking the keys, he made a hasty escape.

Jill jolted awake at the sound of something at the door. She leapt to her feet, suddenly wide awake, and charged towards the door, frying pan in hand. Her keys dropped to the ground through the mailbox. _Huh? Did Skye..._ She picked them up and opened the door, half expecting to see him there, but she was greeted only by darkness. "Um... Thanks. Thanks Skye." She let a smile tug at her lips before retreating inside and locking the door.

Skye smirked, standing from on the roof when he heard the door lock. "Mission keep Pony safe, complete." He murmured to himself, leaping down and running away, black umbrella held against the rain.

"Skye! So you finally woke up and whoa, what happened to your face?! " Kai asked, running through the house to greet his other silver-haired friend. "I got punched and actually, I had some business to take care of." Skye confessed, shaking out his umbrella and stacking it next to his housemates'. "Oh yeah?" Kai wiggled his brows suggestively, "So _that's_ why you won't come chick-hunting with me is it?" Skye gave him a good whack about the head. "Your imagination exceeds you." Kai pouted, but soon perked up,  
"Hey Skye, you gotta help me though!"  
"What with..."  
"Don't say it like that; just come on! Vaughn's totally kicking my ass on Mario Kart!"  
"Agh, fine. Just let me get some food and something for my face."

The next day, school passed by quickly. Jill noticed that Skye wasn't in and she had to wonder whether he had caught a cold. Kai made a few moves on Claire, but she bluntly turned him down each time. Chelsea seemed a bit agitated though and worry had begun to niggle at both Claire and Jill.

"Hey, Chelsea, wait up!" Claire grabbed onto the chesnut-haired girl's shirt sleeve, "Weren't you going to wait for us today?" Her big cerulean eyes were tainted with hurt. "I- Sorry, it's just, Tetsu isn't well and-"  
"What?"  
"Tetsu's ill." Chelsea repeated, just as Jill joined them, ready to walk home.  
"That's strange," She commented, "I didn't think that dog _ever_ got sick."  
"That's why I'm worried."  
"Well, let's see what we can do!" Claire grinned, "Maybe she just wants to see some old faces?" Chelsea shrugged, not looking any less anxious.

"Ah, I see." Claire scratched her cheek, looking at the whining dog sympathetically. She was lying on her side in her bed, whimpering and crying. Chelsea knelt down beside her, stroking her head. Jill exhaled slowly, "We should call a vet."  
"There isn't one for miles around that can come out soon, believe me, I asked everywhere." Chelsea remarked, a bitter sting in her voice.  
"Then we'll just have to go for the next best thing," Jill gained a devilish glint to her eyes, "Who's up for calling Dr. Jin?"

Skye rubbed his bruised-up, swollen cheek ruefully. Sure it got him out of school for a bit, but he could have done that even without the beating. _That Pony sure can punch..._ He thought, mindlessly looking out the window. His perfectly plucked silver brows arched in intrigue when he saw someone with black hair in a lab coat dashing down the path. "Now what might that be about..."

"A- Alex?" Claire stuttered, blushing red when she opened the door.  
"Y- yes." The young man panted, trying to catch his breath. He wasn't the sporty type. "I'm terribly sorry, but Jin had business to take care of, he sent me in his stead."  
"That's fine." Jill interrupted, "Just come and take a look at Tetsu."

Chelsea looked up from soothing her dark-coated rottweiler, her glistening sapphire eyes were wet with tears that she tried hard to hold back. "Can you help her?" Alex stopped in his tracks,  
"Um... I don't believe that dogs and humans are all _that_ different, though any diagnosis I make may be a little off..." He bit his lip. He hadn't been told he'd be treating a dog. Whilst dogs and humans were very similar in some respects, they were drastically different in others and he was scared he would make a terrible mistake that would end up with one too many grieving hearts. "So long as you try." Chelsea blinked back the tears and crouched against the wall, one hand still placed upon Tetsu's warm head. Alex nodded and knelt before the canine. He ran his hand down each leg gently but firmly. No broken bones. He checked her pulse before checking the ribs from any breaks or fractures. None. He checked her throat for blockages. None. Finally, he started to check her over for any unusual lumps, which would give away a tumour of some sort. His hand froze over her abdomen. "W- what is it?" Chelsea asked, barely holding back the tears. Alex shook his head with a smile and sat back, "Absolutely nothing to worry about." He almost laughed, making Chelsea even more agitated.  
"Spit it out!"  
"She's just pregnant."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Wild dogs.  
"Pregnant?!" Jill repeated, shocked. Chelsea let out a snarl,  
"That damn wild dog..." Alex shrugged,  
"She's probably just going through a little pain, just like humans do when they're pregnant and their ankles swell up and they get back pains and what-not. She's pretty far along, so it's understandable."  
"She'll be alright though, won't she?" Tetsu was still whining in pain.  
"She'll be fine, you'll just have to get her some painkillers from the nearest vets."  
"And in the meantime..."  
"I'd say make her as comfortable as possible, but I don't know if that will stop her from whining, sorry." Chelsea just let out a heavy sigh, wrapping her arms around Tetsu's neck. "Poor you, I'm so sorry I let that meanie wild dog get to you, I promise to be extra vigilant from now on." Alex stood and took his leave quietly. Jill had gone off to find towels and blankets for Tetsu to make her comfy, so Claire followed Alex to the door to thank him.

"Hey," She called as he was stepping out of the door.  
"Oh, hey." He turned and smiled, "We met yesterday right?"  
"O- oh, yeah."  
"Your name is Claire isn't it?"  
"Y- yes, and you're Alex." He chuckled,  
"Yup."  
"I- I just wanted to say thanks on behalf of Chelsea, I know she really appreciated your help back there. She and Tetsu have been together for a long time, so she sees Tetsu as being more important than thanking others for helping her."  
"That's perfectly understandable, see you around, Claire."  
"U- um, yeah, s- see you around..." Claire waved briefly, her heart thundering in her chest.  
"_Who_ has a crush on the doctor?" Jill sung out, surprising Claire. She screeched and jumped into the air,  
"_Jill!_"

~:~

"Okay class, this formula will be on next week's end of unit test, so be sure to learn it over the weekend." Two weeks had passed since Chelsea found out about Tetsu being pregnant and Jill's class had already finished the first maths unit of the school year, which meant a test was due. "Remember class," The teacher droned on, pacing up and down the front of the classroom, "The test is on monday, fourth period. Don't be late and remember to bring all of your equipment. That includes..." Jill zoned out then, watching Toby draw more fish on his desk. It was actually quite... artistic, despite the simplicity of the drawings. The bell rang and everybody leapt up, gathering their bags. "Alright class, have a good weekend, stay safe and don't forget to study!" The teacher called over everybody's conversations. Claire joined up with Jill and they made their escape.

"So Jill, is there any point in me asking what you'll be doing over the weekend."  
"Probably not." Jill smiled at Claire. Chelsea cocked her head,  
"What are you two scheming about?"  
"We're not scheming," Claire giggled, "We have an end of unit maths test, so Jill's going to be all boring on us and study the whole weekend away."  
"Well _sor-ry_ for being academically-minded." Jill rolled her eyes. Chelsea shook her head fondly,  
"My class hasn't even finished the first unit yet."  
"Jeez, you're slow!"  
"Hey! It's not me."  
"Whatever you say, Chels, _whatever_ you say..."

~:~

"Shouldn't you be studying..." Vaughn asked, almost accusingly. Kai shrugged his shoulders mindlessly, suddenly ducking to one side. A screech came from the T.V. and there was the sound of a crash. "Dammit you stupid cowboy! You made me crash again." Vaughn raised a brow,  
"It was your own stupid fault, no-brained beach boy, you put too much power into the corner."  
"Shut-up! You try keeping that cool-guy act when I beat you!" Vaughn 'tch-ed' and left the lounge, he would utilise this time to study for the test and once again, Kai would fall at his feet. A sense of satisfaction at just imagining his frustrated look had already began to stir in him. "Brake and turn sharply for a shortcut!" He called down from halfway up the stairs. Yet another crashing sound forced a smirk to his face.  
"_You asshole!_ _You tricked me!_"  
_That I did._

"Hey Vaughn." Skye greeted. Vaughn paused at the doorway to the younger boy's room. He was sat on his windowsill, looking out onto the path running a little ways from the front of their house as usual. "You're not studying either?" Vaughn knew it was stupid of him to ask, but he still did. Skye and Kai were the only two people in the entire world he felt he could ever talk to. They were his only friends, the only people he was comfortable around. Skye let out a burdened sigh. "What's the point? I already have an occupation, school does nothing for me."  
"Hn." Sometimes Vaughn wondered what would become of the three of them. Kai was a playboy he didn't want to do anything but flirt and play video games, Skye was a thief who seemed depressed half of the time and Vaughn himself was a complete and utter antisocial, bored to death with life. He tipped his hat to Skye, but something below seemed to have caught his interest and he didn't see the subtle gesture as Vaughn departed to his room down the hall.

"Hey Chelsea, how do I do this difference of two squares thing again?"  
"What, why are you asking me?" Chelsea stopped playing around with Tetsu to come and peer over Claire's shoulder.  
"I think these have to add together to make the middle number... Maybe?"  
"I thought it was the end number."  
"Yeah, but I think Jill did something different."  
"Then why are you asking me? My class hasn't even gotten up to this bit yet." Claire stood up, dropping her pencil with a sigh.  
"I guess I'll have to call her _again._"  
"She's gonna be _sooo_ pleased with you."  
"Yeah, yeah, shut-up, I know I'm dead meat." Claire dialed in the numbers on the phone, looking absentmindedly out of the window whilst it rang. "Just try to keep it quick, alright?" Chelsea called from in the kitchen, having gone back to playing with Tetsu's ears. "I'm a bit strapped for cash this month."  
"Alright!"

Jill huffed, watching the phone flash and call out wildly. She looked back at her revision, then back at the phone. Finally, she picked it up, "Claire by any chance?" She rolled her eyes, even though she knew nobody was there to see it.  
_"Heh, yeah. I need your help..."  
_"What is it this time?" This was about the fiftieth time Claire had called her that night.  
_"How do I do the difference of two squares again?"  
_"Of for God's sake... Right, first off, are you multiplying out of the brackets?"  
_"Ummm... Yeah, I think so."  
_"... You think so?"  
_"I know so... ?"  
_"Whatever, can you see the _x_'s in the first part of each bracket?"  
_"Yes."  
_"Add them together, what do you get?"  
_"x squared right?"  
_"Correct, next you..." Jill continued to take Claire through the question, going on to do a few others with her afterwards so she could get the hang of it. "Can you do it now?"  
_"Yeah, I think I've got it."  
_"Good, now stop calling me because I've got to go to sleep."  
_"Alright, thanks Jill!"_ The line went dead and Jill threw the phone to the other side of the room, smothering her face with her hands.

"I'm just taking Tetsu out for a walk Claire, so I'll see you in about half an hour."  
"Alright, see you." Claire waved to her chestnut-haired friend and the rottweiler pacing giddily at her feet.  
"Let's go then, Tetsu!" Tetsu barked, her stump wiggling at ninety miles an hour. Chelsea clipped her lead on and opened the door. Tetsu bounded out, yanking Chelsea over the threshold and into the night. Claire held back a giggle and shut the door after them.

Tetsu trotted alongside Chelsea as they made their way to the forest. It wasn't too far away, but at the same time, it wasn't something most people might call a casual stroll. Chelsea's eyes were constantly darting around; she wasn't all too comfortable with being out in the dark, but she always felt a lot safer with Tetsu by her side. The big dog was extremely protective and wouldn't let anything within six feet of Chelsea if she didn't know who or what it was. The girl rubbed the rottie between the ears affectionately and smiled at the content face she pulled. The forest was in sight when she looked up and soon they were traipsing through the trees, their large, bulky shadows and wandering canopies blocking out almost all light. Chelsea's grip tightened on Tetsu's leash and the dog pushed her nose into her hand comfortingly. "Okay Tetsu, stay close to me." Chelsea murmured, kneeling down and unclipping the leash. Tetsu's ears pricked and her stumpy tail wiggled furiously. "Alright, three... two... one... _blastoff!_" The dog leapt off to the side excitedly, bounded a few steps and then went trotting off to Chelsea's side, only a foot or two away like usual. Chelsea walked on, stopping when Tetsu stopped to sniff at something and walking when Tetsu walked. They were in sight of each other at all times. Suddenly though, barking erupted further ahead. Chelsea froze and so did Tetsu. Her hackles were already raised and she was snarling, teeth bared. Chelsea already knew they were wild dogs and by the sound of it, a large pack of them. A tall, human figure strode around the corner and Tetsu let out a ferocious bark, then another and another until the person stopped moving. Chelsea edged her way to Tetsu' side, squinting into the darkness. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she would have screamed probably at the sight of the silhouetted figure if they hadn't seemed somehow familiar. Five, lean and scruffy wild dogs padded out after the person, gathering at their heels and sniffing at the air and ground. They started to walk towards Tetsu, heads bent low as if they were thinking about hunting. "_Hey!_" Chelsea yelled, just as Tetsu started barking again, snapping at any of the dogs that got too close. A few of them scattered at the sharp noise. "What's wrong, don't you think dogs should socialise?" Chelsea's eyes narrowed and she glowered at the person,  
"Of course I think dogs should socialise, besides, just who the hell are you?!" The person walked forwards and Tetsu made to bite them, but Chelsea called for her not to and the rottie obliged, taking the few steps back to stand in front of her master. A look of realisation crossed Chelsea's face when she saw just who exactly the person was. "You're... Vaughn right, from Jill and Claire's class?" The silvery-haired male cocked his head to the side, "Yeah, what about it?"  
"Nothing." Chelsea bit out, she had been expecting many things from this man, but she had not been expecting such a curt, antisocial response. "Just keep those wild dogs away from Tetsu." Vaughn seemed to sneer at that demand,  
"For someone who owns a dog, you sure don't act like you like them."  
"Yeah well, one of those mongrels _impregnated_ my dog, causing her a lot of pain and making it so that I have to spend money on painkillers for her. Money which, oddly enough, _I don't have._" She jabbed a finger at him accusingly, "So if you think I'm being offhand about those wild dogs, then you're completely mistaken." The frown on Vaughn's face deepened and he looked away as if she had made some foolish assumption.  
"That's just what happens in nature, what the hell did you expect?" Tetsu growled and her hackles raised once more. Chelsea huffed, recognising the agitated look in the rottweiler's deep chocolatey eyes. "Yeah, well my dog isn't exactly living in nature, is she? She's a _domestic_ dog, which means _this,_" Chelsea waved her hand at Tetsu's slightly bulged underbelly, "Should never have happened." With that said, Chelsea stormed off back the way she and Tetsu had came before Vaughn could retaliate. Tetsu let out a half-bark as a warning to him not to come anywhere near them again before running after Chelsea.

Chelsea flopped onto her bed with a heavy sigh and Claire dropped onto the futon laid out for her on the floor. Tetsu had come upstairs and was sprawled out next to Chelsea on the bed, squashing the poor girl against the wall. "So Claire," Chelsea asked, "Have you heard the rumors at school?" The blonde shook her head,  
"No, what are they this time?" She hoped they weren't about Jill and how she gave Skye concussion...  
"You know how the school gives us money to pay for our living expenses in exchange for us always helping out at fundraisers and stuff?"  
"Yeah."  
"Well apparently the school budget can't stretch out to pay for all the new students coming in, so they've decided we all have to get jobs." Claire had been slowly sitting upright throughout the whole explanation, what the hell? She didn't have the time to be working, she barely managed to learn everything for class! "That's... unfair." She flopped back down.  
"It's just a rumor though, no need to worry." Chelsea could tell Claire had a lot of complaints on the subject, but she didn't speak up. She rubbed her arm and kept staring up at the ceiling with her big, cerulean eyes.

"It's like my uncle always used to say, where there's smoke, there's fire."

"Hey Jill!" Chelsea yelled, pounding on the brunette's front door some more. "Jill! Come on, get up!" The door finally swung open a crack,  
"What d'you want now?" Chelsea pushed the door open so she could get a better look at her friend,  
"You're coming job-hunting with us." Jill immediately tried to shut the door, but Claire stuck her foot in the way.  
"There's this rumor that the school can't pay all of the students' living expenses any more, so they're gonna make us get jobs." She quickly explained. "And you know what that means," Chelsea looked straight at Jill, "Too many students, not enough jobs. Do you want to commute to work and back every weekend?" Jill's eyes darkenned.  
"No, I don't." She bit out, storming back into her house. Claire looked at Chelsea and Chelsea looked back.  
"I shouldn't have said commute."  
"Nope. But hey, you up for a second breakfast? Jill's fridge is always full!"

The three of them soon found themselves standing on one of the paths in the 'shopping district' of town. Shops sat next to the paths, people milling about going from one to the other. Even though it was never really that busy, the thought of having to find, ask for and actually _get_ a job was daunting. But once they had that job, they had to go to it and work, to get money. They already knew that that was what most adults do, but they'd never done it before. It sounded easy enough, but in reality... "So, what kind of job are you going for Chelsea?" Claire asked, looking to her friend.  
"Ummm... The animal shop, maybe? Something like that."  
"And you Jill?"  
"The farm." She answered bluntly, not at all pleased at having to spend her Sunday job-hunting.  
"That's nice, I think I'll go for... um... the flowers and seeds shop?"  
"Alright then, let's go." The three split and went to find the shops and farm they'd said they'd work for.

Jill wandered onto Cedar Farm and her first impression was not all that great. because, well, it looked a bit... messy. Weeds were sprouting up all over the land and the cows had squeezed through a broken fence and were munching on everything with a green shoot, including the crops. Jill dreaded to know what any chickens they had were getting up to. She sighed and knocked on the door of a smallish red hut off to the side. An old, bent over man with thick black eyebrows and a sagging tattoo of a blue anchor on his shoulder opened the door and squinted up at Jill. "Hello." She waved a little, "I'm Jill."  
"Takakura," The man introduced himself roughly. "What do you want?"  
"I'm actually looking to work here on weekends."  
"Oh yeah?" He stepped outside and shut the door, "Why's that?" Jill detected the note of suspicion in his voice immediately, "I'm a student at Tani no Yuki High School and there's been a rumor going around that the school isn't going to be able to pay for our living expenses any more so we'll have to get jobs. Me and my friends are trying to find some early before all of the jobs are taken up and we have to go out of town." Takakura nodded slowly, "Ah, I see... Well then, follow me, we'll see if you can handle the workload."  
_Yeah, well it doesn't look like you can handle it very well to start with anyway, so this'll be easy._

"I know the place is a mess," Takakura said, stopping in the middle of the fields, "But I'm getting on in years and the work just seems to get harder and harder with each passing day." Jill nodded, she couldn't really feel for him because she had only just met him, but she understood the concept. "Anyway, first off, I'd like you to start by catching all of the eight chickens."  
"Right." Jill nodded.  
"If you can do that by two o'clock, you're hired." It was twelve o'clock now, so Jill set off immediately. She ran to the tree growing in the fields all by itself and quickly scrambled up its trunk to sit on one of its thick branches. She looked out over all of the fields, scouring every inch. Suddenly, she caught sight of a bundle of white feathers. Pin-pointing the location, she leapt down and started running for it. Takakura sighed as she dashed past, leaping at the ground. A startled bird scurried out of the grass, just evading her grasp. "Hey! Come back here!" Jill yelled and set off in hot pursuit. The chicken clucked madly, veering to the side. Jill reached out for it and fell over again, but in her grasp was one of the chicken's legs, jerking about as it tried to escape. "Oh yeah! Hey, Takakura, I got it!" He nodded and pointed to the chicken coop. She got up, carrying the frantic bird with both hands around its body into the chicken coop. Setting it down, she slammed the door shut quickly. _Alright, now for the next one..._

"Oh, that would be a great help!" Liz smiled happily at the blonde girl, "So long as you don't mind working with my daughter Nina, then you're hired!"  
"Thank-you so much!" Claire bowed deeply, making Liz laugh,  
"Do stand up. I'll write out your hours and when you'll be doing them. If you could read through them sometime soon and tell me within the week if you can do them. I'll pay you... 100g an hour, how's that?"  
"T- that's great, thank-you!" Liz giggled and starting writing down Claire's working days on a scrap of paper. Folding it up, she passed it over the counter. Claire bowed again before leaving. She checked the time on her way out. Half past one.

Chelsea sighed, looking around the animal shop. She had been milling around outside for over an hour now... The door jingled open suddenly and she jumped, scuttling around the side of the shop. She heard footsteps coming towards her and froze. A familiar silver-haired male with a cowboy hat looked at her with one arched brow. "What are you hiding like a coward for?" Chelsea glared at him and straightened,  
"For your information, I was playing hide and seek."  
"Liar."  
"W- well it's none of your business anyway! Leave me alone." She pushed past him, but he grabbed hold of her wrist. "Hey, let go of me!" She snapped, yanking at her arm. He didn't let go.  
"Last night. I didn't mean to offend you." He said, his voice slightly rough as if he wasn't used to apologising. Chelsea pursed her lips and looked away. He let go of her wrist and walked away. "It's alright." She finally managed, but by then, he was already gone. With a sigh, she walked up to the door of the animal shop and pushed it open.

"O- okay." Jill panted, placing her hands on her knees. She could feel the sweat dripping down her temples. "T- that's... all of them." Takakura nodded, and looked up at the sun. Two o'clock.  
"Just in time." His creased smile reminded Jill of her father and she looked away.  
"So I get the job?"  
"Of course, come by every Saturday and Sunday at six. You'll get half of the farm's profits." Jill grinned,  
"Thanks. I'll come by next week then."  
"No, thank-_you_, I really appreciate the help."

Jill met up with Claire and Chelsea outside the farm. She noticed that the wooden gate was broken. She'd have to remember to fix it next week. "So you both got jobs?" She called out. Claire and Chelsea looked up.  
"Oh hey Jill," Chelsea smiled, "We sure did! And exactly where we wanted to work too."  
"That's great. I had to go through a test to get mine, but I got it!"  
"Really?" Claire didn't believe the part about the test, but let it drop. "We should probably head home."  
"I second that!" Chelsea cried, running off.  
"Hey! Wait up!"  
"Chelsea!"

~:~

Jill placed her pen down, flipping to the cover of her test paper and pushing it away from herself. Finished already and with ten minutes to spare, even after checking over it all. She folded her arms and rest her head in them, looking out through her armpit to watch Toby... drawing more fish. She wondered if he'd even opened the test. He hadn't even written his name on the front of it... She tried to look to the back of the class to see how Claire was doing, but could only glimpse at the corner of her desk. Nestling her face into the crook of her arm, she patiently awaited the end of the test, resisting the urge to drum her fingers against her desk.

"Alright class, put your pens down, time's up!" the teacher clapped his hands twice and the class buzzed with voices once more. Jill could hear moans and complaints in amongst all of the sighs and questions to people's friends. The brunette looked over to Claire, twisting in her chair to get a proper look. She was already looking over at her. _'How'd it go?' _She mouthed, shouting would be pointless.  
_'Good, you?'  
'Alright.'_ Claire shrugged. Jill smiled, trying to be reassuring. Claire may really like maths, but she was pretty useless at most of it.  
"Everybody, be quiet please!" The teacher called out, rapping his fist on the blackboard. The class slowly died down to a murmur, but that was good enough. "I'll mark these for sixth period-" A rabble of cheers and groans tumbled through the students. "-But that means doing bookwork during fifth period, so-" The rest was drowned out by the loud complaints and boos that erupted all over the room. Jill huffed and looked to the side, did the people in this class really expect the teacher to be some magic teaching-marking machine that could do both things simultaneously? She shook her head in disbelief. The bell rang for lunch then and everybody scrambled out of their seats for the door.

"How did you do?!" Chelsea cried, flinging her arms around Claire and Jill. Claire squeaked in surprise.  
"I did fine." Jill said, Claire smiled ruefully,  
"I didn't do too bad, but that just means that I'll have done _really_ bad..."  
"Oh, you'll have done fine! You're such a worry-wart!" Chelsea hit her backside the head gently. "Come on, I'm hungry."

Mark joined them for lunch, which meant that Jill and Claire actually spent more time chasing him for his hat than actually eating. Chelsea sat and watched, stealing food from everybody else's lunches whilst they weren't looking. "Hey there!" All four of them looked up at the new voice. Chelsea tensed up as if she were an animal that could raise its fur and hackles as a sign of dislike and hatred. Kai wasn't looking in her direction though, he was grinning at Claire. She snorted, looking away disdainfully. "Aw c'mon, I'm not _that_ bad." He was flanked on either side by Skye and Vaughn, neither of which looked exactly thrilled to be there. "Yes you are." Claire snapped, crossing her arms. "You keep pestering me, throwing notes at my desk in class and making stupid flirty faces! That kind of thing makes you someone into someone I want to stay away from!" The tanned boy didn't even flinch, but Skye leant forwards to murmur something in his ear. His eyes caught with Claire's, flashing turquoise before his silvery hair fell in front of them. Kai seemed to pout a little and he shrugged. His grin returned though when he looked back at Claire, "Just give me a chance, you'll see!" And with that, the three boys turned and left. Claire, red with boiling rage, picked up and rock and threw it at them,  
"_You flirtatious half-wit! Leave me the hell alone!_" But her rock fell short and her yell was ignored by all but the birds wheeling in the sky.

"Alright then!" Everybody in class looked up at the teacher. He tapped on the blackboard, a list of names written in test score-order chalked onto it. "The test scores are up on the board and overall, everybody did extremely well. Apart from a select few, of course." Jill scoured it eagerly for her name. She received such a shock that it felt as if she had just been yanked out of her body when she saw her name second from the top. She had always been first- She read the name above hers. Toby. She had to blink and read the name again to make sure she'd read it correctly. Yes, that was definitely Toby, the unassuming boy who never seemed to concentrate in class. She dispelled the thought from her mind, she'd just have to do better next time! Besides, it was good to have some healthy competition. She was just in the middle of finding Claire's score when the bell signaling the end of the day rang. "Jill Suzumiya and Skye Steiner, please stay behind for a moment please." The teacher called over the screeching of chairs and excited voices. Jill's head shot up, _What? Why the hell-_ But the class had already emptied and the two of them, her and Skye, were called to the front of the class.

"Alright Skye," The teacher huffed, rapping his knuckles at the bottom name in the score list. "That's you, right at rock bottom." The silver-haired boy tilted his head back defiantly.  
"Yes, I can read."  
"It hardly seems like it; all of your results across the board are rock bottom and have been for years now. I want to change that." Skye didn't say anything, just tightened his glare.  
"Jill," Her head whipped up. "I want you to tutor him."  
"_WHAT?!"_

* * *

**Okay, sorry for the wait ^^: I don't know if dogs are in pain during pregnancy, so sorry if I got that wrong.**

**COMPETITION TIME!  
I need names for the puppies when they're born, the theme is... Plants and different languages (thank-you Woodshrew for all your help!). Basically, that means that the name either has to be the name of a plant, or a name in a different language, or both! You can enter as many times as you like and the competition closes after the puppies are born! Thank-you!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Tutor.  
"Why the hell do _I _have to tutor _him?!_"  
"Jill, please calm down. I've already explained this several times now."  
"But Toby-"  
"Jill, I would have chosen Toby to do it, but he doesn't exactly have the... _social skills _let's say for this kind of thing. You, however, do." Jill worked her mouth pointlessly. Each arguement she had presented had been torn down like a scrap of tissue paper by the teacher. Her eyes finally latched with Skye's. He looked equally dejected.  
"..._Fine._" She spat out. The teacher's smug look made her want to punch the man right there and then.  
"Excellent, I want you two to meet at least twice a week and Skye, you had better show up and do everything Jill tells you to. The rendezvous point is up to you two to decide, now off you go!" And with that, they were ushered out of the door.

"Why couldn't you just have a brain on you?" Jill complained, once again stuck with walking home with Skye because Claire and Chelsea had ditched her. She hoped he wouldn't 'walk her' all the way to her house again. Huffing, she looked at him from the corner of her eye. He was looking straight ahead, seemingly lost in the scenery.  
"When do you want to do this tutoring then?" She interrupted his contemplation without a second thought. He turned to look at her and for a second he seemed dazed. Then his eyes cleared to their usual crystalline turquoise and he smirked,  
"At your house, beautiful." Jill punched him hard in the chest the second the words left his lips and he stumbled back,  
"What the hell?! Don't ever call me that again!" She turned and stormed on, expecting him to leave her alone after that. She should have know better. He was soon striding arrogantly beside her again,  
"I was just playing around Pony-"  
"Well it wasn't funny! Not to mention it was a plain _stupid_ thing to do _and_- and-" She didn't want to say the last part, so she kicked him in the shin and ran off instead. _I've never heard him say anything like that before, I just knew it, I knew he was a perverted flirt like his stupid friend. How dare he! How dare he try and flirt with me! But I can see right through him and I'll punish him accordingly with algebra and grammar! He won't even see it coming!_

A smirk tugged at Skye's lips as he watched Pony run down the path. She was proving to be quite interesting. Quite interesting indeed.

Jill had a quiet night that night. Neither Claire nor Chelsea called round or phoned asking for her and she found herself enjoying the solitude. She made a small one-person tea of pasta, runner beans and pork in her kitchen, lit by one small light instead of all of the big lights. She then settled down in front of the TV to eat and watch Sprite Rangers with a steaming cup of green tea.

Meanwhile, in the residence of three adolescent boys, a large-scale game of Mario Kart was taking place.

~:~

Chelsea yawned, stretching out her arms as she walked down the path to the animal shop. It was Friday, after school. Mirabelle who owned the animal shop had asked for her to drop by for an 'induction' as she phrased it. Just to get a hang of the stock and how everything worked. Chelsea pushed the door open and the little brass bell tinkled musically. Mirabelle looked over, a warm glow to her cheeks. She smiled.  
"Come on in, Chelsea. Let's get to work as soon as possible." The brunette nodded and trotted over to the counter. "We'll start with the back rooms where all of the spare stock and animal feed is kept, then..."

"And round the back here is where we keep the livestock." Mirabelle motioned to the barns and Chelsea nodded, trying to peek inside them without being too obvious. Mirabelle noticed though, "Go on. It's probably for the best that you get to know the animals. Come see me at the till when you're done and I'll show you how to work it." Chelsea's face lit up,  
"Okay! Thank-you!" She bowed sharply and ran towards the barn. Mirabelle couldn't help but chuckle,  
"Oh Vaughn, I do hope you don't get too nasty a surprise."

"_I've dreams of living alone but fearless  
Secret longing to be courageous  
Loneliness kept bottled up inside  
Just reveal your brave face they'll never know you lied_

_Country roads may lead me home  
Now I belong there all on my own  
Destiny calls motionless I stall  
No I can't go, country road-_"

"You're a terrible singer." Chelsea squeaked, dropped the animal brush which clattered to the ground noisily and whipped around to face the speaker. A light blush rose to her cheeks which she tried hard to ignore.  
"Vaughn. How long have you been standing there?" She didn't know if the heat radiating from her cheeks was due to being caught singing or- "Long enough for my ears to bleed." He commented dryly, though if it weren't for his cowboy hat, Chelsea would have seen the glint of humour in his purple eyes.  
"Gee, thanks." She bit out. Her eyes caught on something by his legs and she arched a brow, picked up the animal brush she had dropped and walked over to investigate.  
"You know," Vaughn said, looking up. The rim of his hat shaded his eyes from the bold sunlight. "If that cow weren't so docile, you would have a rather large hoof print in your side right now."  
"And whose fault would that have been?" Chelsea retorted, though her curiosity as to what was by Vaughn's feet took all of the venom out of it. She poked her head around his body and saw the same pack of wild dogs from a week ago. She had to fight the frown from emerging on her face. "Do they follow you around or something?" Vaughn shrugged,  
"Sometimes." A large tan dog with pointed ears and a long tail stepped forwards, sniffing at Chelsea's shoes and pockets. "That's Bryant." Vaughn supplied before Chelsea could ask.  
"Uhuh. And the rest..."  
"His pack." The older boy didn't seem to want to talk further. He pushed past Chelsea, ripping the animal brush from her hands. Chelsea stood there for a moment, watching him as he dumped the brush on a crate with the other tools and climbed up into the hay rack, lugging about the bales and throwing a few down. Her heart gave a strange flip and she instinctively pressed the heel of her palm to her chest, turning and walking away. There was something about his cold demeanor, how he would seem relatively fine then suddenly turn angry that drew Chelsea in. She didn't quite understand it, or know if she should fight it, but she knew that either way, she wasn't going to be able to escape it easily.

Claire stopped. She looked down, she blinked. Two wide, golden amber eyes blinked back. Claire crouched down in the middle of the path and cocked her head to the side. The cat copied the movement.  
"Are you lost?" Claire asked, noticing that there was no collar around the little black cat's neck. It was only a kitten really and it mewled pitifully. "Don't you have a home?" It stood up and brushed it's length against her skirt.  
"Hey," Claire jumped at the sudden voice and looked up over her shoulder. Her face twisted into a frown.  
"Go away." Kai ignored her 'request' and crouched down beside her. The kitten sniffed at him inquisitively and he poked it in the nose.  
"You're name's Claire, right?" The blonde pursed her lips and frowned,  
"Yeah, I thought you'd know it with all the stalking and the flirting you've been doing." She spat. Kai laughed despite the direct jab at his morals. "Just for the record, I've never stalked you." Claire only huffed. "So is this your cat?" He continued.  
"No, I think she's homeless."  
"You should take her in then."  
"Well _duh_, I'm not stupid." She said, picking up the little black kitten and cradling it to her chest. She gave Kai one last glare before stalking off. "Well," The tanned boy shrugged, "I can always try."  
"Hehe, sure you can." Kai stood up and turned to find Skye flicking out his silver hair. His turquoise eyes flashed open and he smirked devilishly, "Up for a game of Mario Kart?"

Chelsea sighed and rubbed Tetsu between the ears. The rottweiler pushed her head into the girl's lap and snuffled. Chelsea chuckled and played with her ears fondly,  
"I don't have anything," She laughed and Tetsu shoved her nose into her face, making her fall back. "Okay, okay, I'll get you something!" She got to her feet and stepped around Tetsu who was bouncing up and down, following her to the kitchen. Chelsea pulled down the dog biscuits from the cupboard and showed them to her faithful companion.  
"These the ones?" Tetsu shuffled her feet and half sat down before shuffling forwards and reaching for the biscuits with her nose. Chelsea ruffled her fur and took out one of the treats,  
"Go... get it!" She threw it to the other side of the room and Tetsu leapt after it, skidding on the floor slightly. Chelsea laughed and went to hide some more treats under her bed and in her toys. The calendar caught her eye though and she stopped.  
_Seven weeks until they're due..._ Her eyes drifted to the happy rottweiler, thrusting her nose under the couch to find the treat (Chelsea was sure she was both blind and had lost her sense of smell and most of her mind because the silly dog could hardly find anything, even treats that were right in her line of sight). Chelsea couldn't help but laugh. She ignored the calendar and went to play with her closest friend, it wasn't like these puppies would be the end of the world for either of them.

* * *

_Bi-beep. Bi-beep. Bi-beep._ Jill groaned and grappled for the alarm clock. Her fingers fumbled all over its smooth surface before finally finding the off switch and flicking it. Her eyes, groggy with sleep, could barely make out the hour hand pointing to five.  
_I should never have chosen the farm. _She thought, a huge need for more sleep piling itself upon her eyelids. "No. Wake up Jill." She told herself. "Come on, you can do it!" And to prove it to herself, she rolled herself out of bed and onto the floor. The sudden thud and the cooler surface woke her thoroughly.  
"Right. To work!"

Takakura nodded, impressed with Jill's punctuality.  
"Well then, first let's get you started on crops. They're a relatively easy task for a beginner such as yourself, but I'm sure you'll master it very quickly." The brunette wondered if she should take that as a compliment or an insult, so she just nodded dumbly as Takakura led her to the fields. He handed her a pair of gloves, black and red with a pawprint on the wrist.  
"Put these on, they'll protect your hands." He said before taking out a hoe. "Now, to till the soil, all you have to do is this." He started to till the land whilst Jill watched carefully. When he passed the tool to her, she tried to mimic his technique to little avail.  
"It's alright," He said when the annoyance started to show in her face. "These things take time, do you want me to go through it again?"

Claire was pretty happy working at the flower and seeds shop. 100g an hour to water the flowers in the back and harvest any seeds she came across? Easy money as far as she was concerned _and_ she got to talk to Liz's daughter, Nina, whilst she was working too.

Claire knew Nina from school, but she'd never really talked to the girl before. They weren't in the same friendship groups really and it never occurred to the blonde that they might have common interests, such as growing plants. The pinkette was a good conversationalist too which meant that the work didn't get tedious or awkward for even a second. Claire felt right at home with this mother-daughter-run business and she hoped they'd let her stay and work for a long time. She looked up at the sun, shielding her eyes from the mid-afternoon glare. This was the best.

Mirabelle sighed under her breath. She had been watching Chelsea and Vaughn glowering at each other since that morning when Chelsea had arrived for her first day of work. _Please get along._ The blonde woman wished, crossing her fingers under the counter. Suddenly, the bell jingled and the door opened. Chelsea's head whipped up, breaking the glaring contest for now. A boy with pinkish-red hair stepped through the door. He adjusted his glasses nervously and Chelsea vaguely recognised him from school.  
"Um, excuse me," His voice was timid. "Is Julia here?" Whilst Mirabelle started saying that no, she wasn't and telling the boy where she was, Chelsea and Vaughn struck up their glaring contest again. He broke it shortly though with a terse smirk and a tugging of his hat further down his forehead. He stood and walking out through the back, presumably to tend to the animals. Chelsea wondered if that hat of his ever impaired his vision.  
"Chelsea." Mirabelle called her. The brunette looked up from her musings,  
"Yes, what is it?"  
"Go and help Vaughn with the animals." Confusion streaked through her.  
"Why? Can't he handle the work alone? I'm sure I'd be of more use here-"  
"You two have been giving each other the evils all morning, I need my staff to get along so off you go! Think of it as a team-building exercise." Chelsea cringed inwardly at the tackiness of those words, but trudged off anyways, dragging her feet and pouting at the older woman despondently. She only shook her head, fought back a smile and made a shooing motion with her hand.  
"Go on."

"Hey! Mirabelle told me to come and help you." Chelsea called out when she reached the barn. "Hey! Anybody here?" Hay rustled and suddenly Vaughn popped his head up above one of the cow stalls.  
"I don't need help." He said. Chelsea didn't budge. "... Which means go away." He articulated slowly.  
"Well Mirabelle said I had to, go ask if you want to but she'll just say the same thing." The male's eyes darkenned, but he didn't make to move. Instead he said,  
"Fine." And disappeared back behind the wall of the stall. Chelsea stood there awkwardly for a moment before making her way over.  
"What do you want me to do?" She asked. He straightened from forking straw about in the stall and glared at her,  
"There's nothing that _you_ could do."  
"Hey." Chelsea barked. "Just 'cos I'm a girl doesn't mean I'm weak; give me something to do." At those words, a criminal smirk pulled at Vaughn's lips.  
"Alright then, tough girl, let's see you get five bales of straw down from the hay rack. That is, if you can tell the difference between straw and hay." Chelsea's cheeks flared.  
"Of course I can! Just watch me, I'll show you." She stormed over to the ladder and started to climb it with heavy, purposeful feet. Vaughn snorted and shook his head, but he watched all the same.

_She looks like a bumbling oaf up there._ The silver-haired cowboy thought to himself as he watched her trip over bales of hay, trying to find the straw. There was a heavy thump, a muffled 'ow' and then the footfalls traipsing about started up again. Suddenly though, the girl emerged, hauling with her a bale of straw. Vaughn quirked a brow. So she knew the difference between hay and straw? It was a start at least. But then she threw it down and it crashed into the crate with all the brushes and tools on top, scattering them everywhere. Vaughn _tch-ed_ and turned back to his work.

It wasn't until later that night that he'd realise that he would usually have yelled at somebody for possibly damaging the equipment like that and that maybe, just maybe, this Chelsea wasn't as insignificant and stupid as he had originally thought.

* * *

**An update at last, I hope it's good enough.**

**Also, thanks to everybody who's entered the name-that-puppy competition so far, I appreciate your support!  
There's still plenty of time to enter more names, so go ahead and shoot (not literally though, please)!**

Remember, the theme is plants and foreign languages which means that the names must be either in/of a foreign language, a type of plant (which includes flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables), or the names can be both a kind of plant and in a foreign language, for example: Apple in German is Apfel (trying to remember the german lesson from two years ago).

This contest closes once I post up the chapter with the birth of the puppies.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: It's a date.  
"What's with the old man?" Claire asked, eying Skye's hair as they walked home from school. Skye narrowed his eyes at the blondie. What did Kai like about her anyway? She was annoying as hell, asking so many dumb questions and calling him, _him_, the prince of the stars and lady's man on the school, an old man! Jill growled and gave him the evils, a look that could send a ghost to its second grave.  
"He's a pillock. The teacher's a pillock. They're _all_ pillocks!" Claire blinked,  
"I won't ask."  
"Good." The three girls, Chelsea, Jill and Claire, along with Skye, continued to walk home from school in silence.  
"Sooo... Are you two dating then?"  
"_GRAH!_" Chelsea narrowly avoided a punch to the head. "No way in hell would I ever go out with that- that- that _slimeball!_" Skye chuckled and flicked his hair out,  
"_Denial~_"

He had been doing that all day.

"Halt die Klapper!" Jill yelled, furious as her fist flew towards his head. With a sly grin that she hardly caught in such a short time frame, he had ducked. Infuriatingly, he still had his hands in his pockets. Chelsea jumped into action and grabbed onto the Jill's arms, pinning them to her sides. "Bastard, I'll kill you!" Jill yelled after Skye as he smirked at her. "Chelsea, let me go, he's a dead man-"

"What's going on here?"  
"Oh, hey Mark." Chelsea grinned as Mark approached the group cautiously. Jill smoldered in Chelsea's grip.  
"I'll get him next time." She muttered to herself, but neither Chelsea nor Mark heard her.  
"I thought you were heading home?"  
"Yeah, but then I got bored and decided to have another food fight at yours." Chelsea's grip slowly loosened throughout the conversation and Jill slipped free. Claire watched her storm towards Skye, grab him fiercely by the arm and drag him away with a sour look on her face.

Jill kicked her door open, shoved Skye inside and promptly threw a book at his head from the dresser by the door.  
"Read that, then answer the questions at the back." He chuckled and tossed it from hand to hand,  
"Now, now Pony dear, you don't honestly think I'll do any work now do you-"  
"Shut up!" Jill grabbed his collar and dragged him to the dining table. "Sit there, do the work, _don't_ touch anything and for God's sake, be. _quiet_." She hissed. Skye sighed, feigning an innocent look, but he opened the book all the same and Jill left him to it, traipsing upstairs to change out of her uniform.

When Jill came back downstairs with her own homework, she found the dining table empty except for the book she had ordered Skye to read. She frowned and cast a searching eye around the room. Had he gone out? She hadn't heard the door open or close, but then again, he _was_ a thief. Being quiet was a necessary skill. She dumped her homework on the table and started to search around the house. After a good twenty minutes of searching, she found nothing and went back to the book he'd left. A slip of paper stuck between the pages caught her eye and she pulled it out.

_Dearest Pony,  
I'm afraid I remembered something terribly important  
that I must attend to. I won't be returning.  
- Phantom Skye._

Jill huffed at the obviously mocking note and turned the piece of paper over. To her annoyance, she discovered that the note had been written on a page from the book. Her fist crushed it mercilessly.  
_You want to try and make this difficult? Well, challenge accepted._

Claire waved the leaf in front of the black kitten. She jumped up and grabbed at it with her paws awkwardly.  
"Missed again." Claire hummed, lowering the leaf and then pulling it out of reach. She looked at the small animal thoughtfully as it chased the leaf about.  
"Henna." She suddenly said. "You look like a Henna to me." The kitten looked over with her large amber eyes and in Claire's lapse of concentration, pounced on the leaf and trapped it beneath her claws. Claire laughed and scratched the black fur between her ears,  
"Henna." Just then, there was a knock on the door and Claire pulled herself up and answered it. Her face soured immediately.  
"Kai. I thought you said you weren't stalking me?" The tan boy laughed and rubbed the back of his head,  
"I'm not, I swear." Claire's eyes narrowed, silently asking his business. "I just wanted to- is that cat alright?" He asked, a tone of resignation in his voice that told Claire he had been planning to say something else.  
"She's fine." The blonde snapped before shutting the door.

Kai huffed and raised his fist to knock again before stopping. Why was he at her house anyway?  
_Because she looks good._ He said to himself, but he knew she'd shout at him, then tell that crazy brunette friend of hers about it and then he'd probably end up like Skye - lying in a bed with concussion. He turned and started home.

When he got back, there was the distinctive smell of porridge in the air and he cringed,  
"Vaughn!" He called out, making his way towards the kitchen, "Who's day is it to cook?"  
"Mine." The gruff reply came.  
"Didn't we tell you to stop making porridge for tea?" Kai's voice was hopeful and Vaughn shot him a mixed look - partially mocking, but at the same time it had a hint of warning to it.  
"No. You begged. On your knees. Like a little kid."  
"The hell I did! Take that back!" Vaughn smirked,  
"Like a little kid."  
"You asked for it, here and now!" Kai snatched up a spatula from the worktop and waved it at Vaughn, "_Charge!_" The cowboy shoved a spoon into Kai's mouth and he recoiled, spitting and gagging,  
"What the hell _was_ that, man?! Was it even cooked?!" He choked and coughed, refusing to put his tongue back in his mouth, "It tastes like _shit._" Vaughn threw the spoon at his head and returned to his cooking,  
"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't cook."

The front door opened then and Skye's gagging could be heard from in the kitchen,  
"Whoever's fart that is, they have to get it checked out!" He called.  
"Wrong again Skye, that's our tea." Skye poked his head into the kitchen with a grimace,  
"You're kidding right?" Vaughn turned on them, armed with wooden spoon,  
"Both of you out of the kitchen before I hurt you!"

Like usual, it was pitch black out when Chelsea took Tetsu for a walk that evening. After some debate, she took the path to the forest again. There were wild dogs there and there was always the chance that she'd run into Vaughn - something she wanted to avoid - but Tetsu really loved sniffing around the trees and undergrowth and that was reason enough for Chelsea to lead the way over there. As she walked, she pondered about the weekend that had just passed.  
_Seven weeks._ The number wouldn't leave her head - seven weeks and Tetsu would give birth. To puppies. Lots and lots of puppies if she knew anything about dogs and their litters. What would she do with the puppies? Would she be able to keep them all? She doubted that - but if she gave them away, wouldn't Tetsu be sad? The poor dog was already a bit wrong in the head, a bit 'out of it', at least that's what her parents had said when Chelsea and Tetsu had lived with them. If Chelsea took her puppies away from her, then wouldn't that damage her more, wouldn't Tetsu hate her for it? Chelsea sighed, but what other choice did she have? She looked down at the rottweiler walking by her side; she seemed happy right now, so wasn't that good enough? Couldn't Chelsea just wait and see, maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she thought, maybe she was over thinking it. Another sigh escaped,  
"I need to talk to Mirabelle about this."

* * *

**Damn I'm bad at this updating business. Sorry guys, I bear no excuses, feel free to yell abuse at me.  
Anyway, the name-the-puppy competition is still running, look back at the previous two A/Ns for details if you're interested and haven't already read them.**

**Man, I know this one wasn't that interesting and that it's really short, but I hope I can update again later today.**

**Also, I think I managed to set up a poll on my page about what you'd do if someone made a small village/town in real life based off Harvest Moon so if you feel like it, go check it out.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Advice from an expert.  
Another dull week had passed at school and Saturday was the first opportunity Chelsea had to talk with Mirabelle. The two stood behind the till counter, Chelsea leaning on it and twiddling her thumbs,  
"Would she hate me do you think?" Mirabelle looked up,  
"Hm? What do you mean Chelsea?"  
"Tetsu, my dog, do you think she'd hate me if I gave her litter away?"  
"Well," The woman looked up, thinking, "_Hate_, is definitely out of the question, but she'd be sad for a little while which is perfectly understandable." Chelsea lowered her head and her hair hid her face away,  
"I don't want her to be sad. What if it changes her?" This new revelation struck a chord of fear in Chelsea's heart and her stomach flipped. What if Tetsu turned into one of those vicious dogs that needed to be put down?  
"I'm sure it wouldn't _change_ her," Mirabelle said, "And besides, there's nothing to say that you can't keep the puppies, is there?"  
"Well that's just it, I don't have the money, or the time, or the space, for puppies, and I have no idea how many there are going to be-"  
"Easy." Chelsea looked up, curious. "Just give the puppies to your friends, they'll come by to hang out and they'll probably bring the puppies and then you have the best of both worlds." Mirabelle smiled, but Chelsea felt her lips twist down,  
"What if there are too many puppies for my friends? And besides, I can't just shove such a heavy burden on them-"  
"I'll take some then. We could do with a few dogs, they might chase the mice out of the barns."  
"Really?" Chelsea's face lit up, "Seriously, you'd do that?"  
"Of course-"  
"Thank-you so much!" She flung her arms around the woman and wriggled giddily, "You're the best Mirabelle."

Jill huffed, dragging her feet along the path. She couldn't bare to waste the energy on lifting them properly.  
"This sucks." She muttered to herself, "Why'd _I_ have to do it?" She pushed the door open to the seed shop, having to put her weight behind it her arms were so tired.  
"Hello there!" Jill looked around the shop and her eyes fell on a pink-haired woman smiling from behind the till. Jill tried to say hello back, but it came out as a grunt.  
"Five bags of spinach seeds." She managed, sliding the money Takakura had sent her off with across the counter. The woman smiled obligingly and handed over the seeds,  
"Good luck." She said and Jill grunted again,  
"Could've done with that earlier." She muttered under her breath and the shop door closed behind her. As her heavy feet took her slowly back down the path back to the farm, a vaguely familiar voice rang out,  
"Are you alright?" She glanced to her left and saw Toby, the blueish-silver haired boy who sat next to her in class, walking towards her. He looked to have not a care in the world and a spark of jealousy lit in Jill for only a second before spluttering out. He had a fishing rod propped against one shoulder and he stopped next to her,  
"You look tired, do you want any help?" Jill honestly felt like snapping at him, her exhausted body shortening her normally short fuse further, but she took and deep breath and exhaled through her nose,  
"I guess you could help me carry these seeds back to the farm." She resigned and Toby's face lit up as he took them all and they started walking.

"So, you fish?" Jill asked, taking note agin of the fishing rod he was carrying.  
"Yes." His voice was strangely quiet, but in a laid-back way that Jill found herself enjoying listening to. "I was just on my way to the river when I saw you." Jill winced inside, if she'd known-  
"Don't worry about it though," He hurriedly said, "I don't mind helping." A sigh escaped her and she managed a chuckle, too out of energy to laugh,  
"Well that's a relief." They were on the farm now and Takakura waved them over,  
"Jill, who's this?" He asked, peering out from under his heavy eyebrows.  
"Toby. He's in my class." Jill supplied, a little irritated at the older man still for making her do so much work whilst he stood without breaking a sweat. Toby smiled, freed up one hand, and stuck it out to shake which Takakura did strongly.  
"Good hands you got there." He said gruffly. Toby just smiled. He turned to Jill and handed her the spinach seeds,  
"It was nice talking to you Jill. Bye." Before the fisherman was even out of earshot, Takakura asked Jill teasingly,  
"What, can't even carry five bags of seeds now?"  
"Be quiet old man, I'm pooped! Besides, I could have carried them myself and who's fault do you think it is I'm so exhausted anyway-" Takakura raised his hands,  
"Alright, I get the point; now come on, you've still got to sow and water those by the end of the day."

_It was quiet, really quiet. And dark. But at the same time, she could see. It felt like there was a cold wind driving through her, but the air was still. She looked around,  
"Tetsu? Tetsu?!" There wasn't even an echo in response. She stepped forward hesitantly, "Tetsu, are you here?" Her boot suddenly caught on something and she fell. Scrambling back up, she saw the dark form lying on the ground motionless. Not moving. Not stirring. Not breathing.  
"She's dead." A voice said and she screamed._

Chelsea jolted, taking in a sharp intake of breath. She lay there for a moment, processing the nightmare. When it settled like a dark cloud over her mind, she kicked back the covers and padded downstairs quietly, quickly, to Tetsu. The dog's legs suddenly kicked and scratched at the floor like she was running and half-barks emerged from her throat. Chelsea sighed in relief - Tetsu was alright, the nightmare wasn't real. She crouched beside the rottie and stroked her head fondly whilst she dreamed. Chelsea wondered if she was chasing rabbits and smiled before getting up and going back to bed. The nagging at the back of her head started up again, slightly different from last week's pestering -

_Six weeks._

Sunday was easy for everybody - Chelsea was on the till all day and only a few people came by to buy anything, Jill's chores consisted of watering and clearing the last of the weeds and sticks from the fields, Claire chatted with Nina whilst weeding and debugging the plants around the back of the shop, Vaughn spent the hours with the animals, brushing them and feeding them whilst Kai strolled around with Skye for most of the day before the thief went home to sleep again.

At school the next day, Jill was sat with the book Skye had vandalised instead of reading, reading to thump him on the head with it, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. She sighed and looked to her right; Toby was still doodling fish across his desk.  
"Hey," She called out across the general conversation of the classroom. He looked up at her, his eyes squinted shut like usual. "How come you never do any work?"  
"I remember it so I don't need to."  
"Oh. So do you have photographic memory or..."  
"No, the words just stick in my head and I run through it all when I'm fishing." Jill nodded,  
"That's... cool." The conversation fell quiet.  
"Do you fish?" Toby suddenly asked.  
"No, sorry."  
"No need to apologise," He smiled, "Would you like to come fishing with me after school today? I have a spare rod you can use." Jill sat back and thought about it for a moment; her arms were pretty sore from farming all weekend, but she doubted she'd catch anything anyway.  
"Alright then, but don't expect me to be any good!" She laughed. Toby smiled broadly.

"So how was your weekend?" Claire asked at lunch, looking around their small group. Mark shrugged,  
"Chelsea wouldn't have another food fight with me."  
"That's because I was _working_, or do you not know what that is?" She teased. Mark shot her a glare,  
"You could've let me come 'round after work..."  
"Too tired," She said, "What about you, Claire?" The blonde shrugged her shoulders too,  
"Work's fun, but nothing special if you get what I mean. Nina's good to talk to."  
Jill brooded throughout their conversation, she needed to find Skye and get him to study. It wasn't like she _wanted_ him around at her house, but she didn't want to come across as a failure to the teacher or to herself. Which meant she needed to nip his disappearing act in the bud - she wouldn't let him leave her sight next time. But first, she needed to find out where he was and schedule the next study session. She cringed at those words. _Study session_. It sounded stupid. She huffed and lifted her head from her hands to look around the playground. She soon found Kai and Vaughn a ways off, she hadn't actually held a conversation with them before, but she knew that they would know where Skye was. She contemplated for a moment being patient and waiting for the thief to come into school, but she wasn't a patient person.

"Hey." Vaughn raised an eyebrow questioningly as a girl walked up to him and Kai. His friend blanched visibly,  
"It's the crazy brunette!" The girl's eye twitched and she stopped in front of them,  
"You two are friends of Skye's right?"  
"Yeah-" Vaughn cut Kai short,  
"Who're you?"  
"Jill, I need to know where Skye is." Jill eyed the two boys with a frown, waiting for a response as they considered her request. Finally, Kai sighed and rubbed the back of his bandanna,  
"He's still in bed." He said with a laugh, "Please don't hit me." He added on shyly. Jill's eyes narrowed, but she thanked the two of them anyway and jogged back to her friends.  
_That Kai guy didn't seem too bad just then, I wonder why he doesn't act like that around Claire? She'd probably respond better if he did..._ She thought nonchalantly, not even realising what was going through her head. _I wonder what fishing is like? Will it be fun? I hope so, it'll be nice to have a break from schoolwork and everything._

"You're ditching us?" Chelsea and Claire whined, "Why so mean?" Jill huffed,  
"Stop messing with me and let me go, Toby's waiting." Claire pouted and let go of Jill's sleeve.  
"Have fun without us."  
"That shouldn't be too hard." The three of them laughed and parted ways, Jill running off to join up with Toby and Chelsea and Claire beginning the walk home.

Jill and Toby sat on the bridge over the river, toes dabbling in the water pushing past and floats bobbing carefreely on the surface. The sun was warm on their backs, the birds flitting across the sky. If she listened carefully, Jill could hear Toby humming under his breath. The tune was comfortingly calm and the hours seemed to pass timelessly until sunset and then on into the first beginnings of twilight. Toby shifted and the spell broke, time coming back to tell them how late it was. Jill looked about her, her eyes clearing from their daze,  
"Wow, it's gotten dark." Toby nodded,  
"We should be getting home then." He said, reeling in his line. Jill mimicked him carefully, standing and handing the rod back when he held his hand out for it. "We didn't catch any fish," He said whilst starting to walk, "But it's nice to just sit and think." He smiled, looking over at Jill with his squinted eyes.  
"Yeah, it was really fun actually. Thanks for having me along."  
"No problem, I hope you'll join me some other time." He smiled as they neared his house, "Are you okay getting back on your own, or do you want some company?" He asked.  
"I'll be fine."  
"Alright then, see you in school." He ran off down the path to his house, waving good-bye.

Rain pounded against the roof and Chelsea sighed, dumping Tetsu's lead back on the kitchen table. Tetsu's ears raised ever so slightly.  
"Nah, we'll wait for it to clear up." Chelsea said, leaning back on a chair, "Or do you want to go out in the cold and the wet?" She laughed and crouched beside the rottweiler, trying to rub her neck, but Tetsu kept following her hand with her nose. Chelsea laughed again and pounced on her.

It was late when the rain finally let up to a drizzle and the two left for the forest. Chelsea's mind wandered to Vaughn, she wondered if she'd see him walking with the pack of wild dogs again and her chest tightened. She looked down at Tetsu and chided herself; how could she be so selfish? Tetsu didn't like the wild dogs and here she was wondering if she'd run into them and Vaughn. The guilt was constricting and she silently apologised. Tetsu looked up at her, as if she knew that Chelsea was sorry. As they approached the forest, the path began to get muddier and the shadows deeper. Chelsea's grip on the leash strengthened. When they were a few feet into the forest, she let Tetsu off the leash and the rottweiler trotted off to sniff around the trees and bracken. Chelsea walked at her pace, not wanting to rush the walk. School took up a lot of her time and now that she had started work aswell, she had little time to spend with Tetsu. She inhaled deeply and sighed happily. Even though she wasn't fond of the dark, she was glad of every opportunity to spend with Tetsu. That's when she heard the barking.

Sharp and loud like gunshots, the calls left a ringing in Chelsea's ears and a fluttering, palpitating panic in her heart as adrenaline suddenly poured through her. Her feet moved before her brain thought and she was racing through the trees to find the dog. The thought that it might be Tetsu set her head to ringing and her limbs to quaking despite the urgent situation that demanded them. Tetsu didn't often leave her side during a walk, especially in the middle of the night and Chelsea didn't think she would ever forgive herself, ever recover, if Tetsu got hurt on the off-chance that she didn't look out for that one time. The ground began to slope downwards, getting muddier and slippier with each footfall. Suddenly, her foot sunk deep into the earth and she gave a sharp yelp, falling to her hands and knees. The barking was louder hear and she could tell she was close,

"Tetsu! Tetsu, is that you?" Her voice cracked and her eyes, useless in the pitch black of the night, began to blur and sting with salty tears. "_Oh Goddess..._ I'm coming, don't worry!" She dragged her foot free and pushed on, the swampy ground sucking her leg in up to the calf as she got closer and closer to the dog. She held her hands out in front of her, searching with her fingers for the touch of fur. Finally, she felt it and to her great relief, it was long and matted. Not Tetsu. It wasn't Tetsu! A short laugh escaped her tight throat and she blinked at the tears. The dog in front of her was whimpering and half-barking. In the light, she could just see that it had gotten stuck in the mud and hadn't been able to free itself.  
"It's alright," She whispered, "I've got you now, I'll get you outta here." She dug her hands beneath the dog's stomach and eased it out of the mud. It barked and she held it close to her chest, turning back the way she came and wading through the thick sludge. Her breathing grew heavy and laboured, even as she pulled free of the swamp onto firmer land. She took a quick breather before starting up the slope. She was halfway up when her foot slipped back in the mud and she fell crashing to the floor, cracking her head against something hard. Pain blossomed across her temple and she gasped, rolling onto her side and drawing her knees up. The dog in her arms wriggled and barked worriedly, snuffling at her face. She cringed and tried to breath past the flourishing agony inside her skull, but even as she tried to fight it, she could feel her brain numbing and her muscles growing heavy, weak. Her heart fought back in a fitful panic, crashing into her ribcage. She choked out a sob, and then fell limp.

* * *

**Aha, later that day, huh? Sorry about that guys... **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. If there's anything I can improve on just let me know and the name-the-puppy competition is still open, look back on the previous chapters for more details if you want to enter.**

**Also, as mentioned last chapter, there's a harvest-moon related poll on my page if you feel like checking that out.**

**Thanks and bye!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Gateway Opening.  
Vaughn fidgeted. He touched the rim of his stetson, then dropped his hand, fidgeted some more. Jin looked over his clipboard at him,  
"Do you want me to check you for fleas? Worms perhaps?" Vaughn glared from under his hat, Jin stared coolly back, "She's going to be fine, I know how to do my job."  
"You're just a trainee doctor-"  
"Vaughn." He bit his tongue and looked away, muttering a curt apology under his breath. Jin hooked the chart on the bottom of the bed and took up the girl's wrist, measuring the pulse.  
"I have to say, it's odd to see you so uncomfortable." Jin noted, striking up small-talk that he already knew would end with a dead-end. "I might even go so far as to say you're worried." Vaughn flashed his a deadly look then,  
"Mirabelle told me to stay with her. I just want to get back to work." Jin hummed,  
"I'll take your word for it."

Claire knocked on Chelsea's door, waited, then knocked again. She turned to Jill and shrugged,  
"Maybe she went on one of those mysterious journeys like in the manga?"  
"Hardly. She would have told us, or at least left a note." Jill scuffed the ground with her shoe.  
"I was trying to make light of the situation." Claire started walking away, calling back over her shoulder, "Besides, she's old enough to take care of herself, and Tetsu wasn't at the door when we knocked so that must mean they're together. Nothing bad can happen when they've got each other, you know that." Jill nodded and caught up to the blonde,  
"She didn't turn up at school though-"  
"She's with Tetsu, it'll be okay."

Chelsea stirred and winced. Her fingers twitched, but her eyes didn't open. Beneath the lids, images flashed through her mind, barking and mud, then pain. Mind-numbing pain. There was momentary darkness then... then...

_"Chelsea, hey Chelsea." She could feel a rough hand shake her, but for some reason she couldn't respond. Her eyes wouldn't open, her muscles were stiff and refused to move. Her dry mouth wouldn't open and her vocal chords wouldn't shift to form words.  
"Chelsea." The voice was louder now, the shaking came more violently. Then it all stopped. The cold ground stopped digging into her hip and shoulder, it felt like it had just disappeared to be replaced by something warmer, not much softer, but warmer. There were footsteps, rises and falls in gait. She could hear breath, slightly heavy. And then she could hear barking and dull claws pawing at the ground and scraping against pebbles. She recognised that sound. What was it... she'd heard it before... Her eyebrows pulled down, lips turning at the corners. She was rocked slightly, torso being lightly bounced up, shaken whilst still in a person's hold.  
"Hey, Chelsea. Chelsea." The voice was insistent and she turned her head. Her vocal chords shifted and she heard a disgruntled moan force its way through her still-closed lips. The bark came again. Her mouth opened to inhale sharply. That sound-  
"Te'su-" Chelsea shifted herself, trying sit upright, but her left arm hit nothing but air and her right fell against someone's chest. She felt the cold earth again as she was placed on the ground and tried to protest.  
"Chelsea." It was that voice again. She ignored, a cold and damp nose pushing into her face. She smiled and her hands reached out to entwine into Tetsu's warm coat. Her eyes still hadn't opened, but she knew it was Tetsu.  
"Chelsea, what happened?"  
"Who're you? You sound familiar..." Her voice was faint, she could hardly hear it herself.  
"It's Vaughn, tell me what happened." The voice came sharply, impatiently. Chelsea was pushed to the ground by Tetsu and she managed a weak laugh.  
"I think... I hit my head." She yawned, her breathing slowing down. The rough hand came back, shaking her violently,  
"Chelsea, don't fall asleep. Chelsea!'_

Chelsea jolted, eyes flashing open and darting around. Bright, white light barraged her from all angles and she squinted. Gradually, the fuzzy lines of the ceiling took shape and the the light dulled to a bearable degree. For a moment, she wondered where she was, then what had happened. She remembered dreaming a really weird dream and wondered if it had been real. She heard a door open and tried to sit up, but her head suddenly felt like it had been attacked by a hammer and she groaned, falling back onto a pillow. A person chuckled,  
"Yes, lying down would probably be best right now." Chelsea didn't recognise the voice, "You hit your head pretty hard on a rock." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark-haired man sit in a chair beside her.  
"Who are you?" Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat.  
"Jin, I'm a trainee doctor. You may have seen me around school."  
"Oh." Was all Chelsea could think to say. She closed her eyes as Jin took her wrist and pressed his fingers in to find the pulse, "Tell me what happened."  
"Honestly I don't know the full story." Jin said, "Vaughn came in with you and said he found you lying in the forest. Your head was bleeding; but so far there doesn't seem to be any permanent damage." Chelsea thought, slowly, for a long moment. Then she gasped,  
"Where's Tetsu?" Her head throbbed, but she ignored it. Jin looked at her for a moment,  
"Who's that?"  
"Tetsu, she's my dog, a rottweiler! Where is she?"  
"I'm afraid I don't know-"  
"Then get Vaughn, he'll know!" Chelsea forced herself to sit up, even though the room started to rock and sway as if she were at sea. "If he found me, he must have seen Tetsu! Where is he?"  
"Chelsea, please be careful. You don't want to cause any more damage to yourself."  
"Tell me where Vaughn is then!"  
"Stop making such a racket." Chelsea whipped round to face the door,  
"V- Vaughn."

Jin left the room quietly and Vaughn stepped in, shutting the door behind him.  
"Where's Tetsu?" Chelsea asked, crawling into a kneel, "Did you see her? Is she okay?"  
"She's fine." After a moment, he decided to sit in the chair next to Chelsea's bed, "She's with Mirabelle." Chelsea sighed in relief,  
"That's good. Thanks for helping me by the way, you probably saved my life." She laughed. Vaughn pulled his hat over his eyes,  
"Your dog- I mean, Tetsu found me." Chelsea smiled sheepishly and looked at her hands,  
_Thanks Tetsu._ She thought.  
"You saved Bryant." Vaughn pointed out.  
"Huh? O- oh, Bryant. Yeah, I found him in the mud. He's lighter than he looks." Chelsea chuckled, "But I guess wild dogs don't eat much..." She trailed off. Vaughn grunted an affirmation. He stood up,  
"You're awake now, so I'm going to go." Chelsea started to say wait, but stopped herself and let him leave. He hung at the door though,  
"Thanks. For helping Bryant." The door shut. Chelsea smiled,

_"You're welcome."_

* * *

**It's short, I know, but I'm always slow to update so I'm trying to change that.**

**As usual, any tips for improvement are very welcome. I encourage them!  
The name-the-puppy competition is still running so please check previous chapters for information on that.  
There is also a harvest moon related poll on my page so if it takes your fancy, go check it out, thanks ^^**

**Um, some notes so far...  
The song Chelsea was singing in CH5 was a version of the song 'Country Roads' used in the Studio Ghibli movie 'Whispers of the Heart' which, by the way, you should totally check out. It's fantastic motivation for writers in my opinion.**

**In CH6 Jill said 'Halt die Klapper!', German for 'Shut up' basically and is pronounced 'halt dee clapper'.**

**Oh, and, Harvest Moon belongs to Natsume, not me. All the characters are theirs except for Bryant and Tetsu. I think I own this plot, but someone else has probably done something very similar before, so...**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine: Just Crushing Rocks.  
Lunch time and Claire, Mark and Jill found themselves sat in silence. Without Chelsea, it was a little awkward, especially for Mark.  
"So..." Claire tried to strike up conversation, but her mind, fishing for topics, came up with none.  
"Do you guys know where Chelsea is?" Mark blurted out, looking from Claire to Jill. Both of them shrugged,  
"We've got no idea, but she's with Tetsu so she's gotta be okay." Somebody coughed behind them and the three of them turned to look. Claire turned red,  
"A- Alex?" The dark-haired doctor-in-training waved anxiously. All eyes were on him.  
"Hey Claire. Um, I have some news for all of you." The mood turned from content to strategically balanced between good and bad. All of them could feel it though; the scales were tipping into the dark gloom of misfortune. Tension began to rise as nobody said anything. Part of them didn't want to hear, part of them was curious. The sixth sense that rarely showed itself in humans except for on this sort of occasion was singing terrible news. Mark gulped. Jill glared. Claire wrung her hands.  
"Chelsea's in the hospital." Alex finally said, letting it out like a great wave bursting the banks of a river. The reaction was delayed, then suddenly all three leapt up, Jill and Mark clamouring to be heard over one another and Claire trying to quiet them.  
"I don't know!" Alex shouted over them, having picked the answer to the most prevalent question. "Jin's the doctor taking care of her. He said she's okay, she just hit her head. There doesn't seem to be any permanent damage."  
"What happened?" Mark asked, clamping a hand over Jill's mouth. She bit it and he yelped, yanking his hand away,  
"Don't try and shut me up, that's what I was going to ask!"  
"Both of you, let Alex finish talking!" Claire said. Alex sent her a grateful look, then addressed them all,  
"Look, she's awake now so you can see her when school finishes. I really don't know any more." He shrugged for finality and walked away. Claire, Mark and Jill stood in silence for a minute, then Jill started yelling and Mark started shouting and Claire honestly didn't know why the two of them couldn't stay calm. But inside she knew they were just worried, they just had funny ways of showing it.

Jill dumped herself into her seat, slinging her arm over the back of her chair and looking at Skye behind her. He was smirking.  
"So you finally show your face, you snake."  
"My my, such harsh words."  
"Yeah and I'm gonna make you eat them too." Jill growled, glaring at him. His smirk grew. "I'm teaching you how to do your work and you're going to let me whether you like it or not." She snapped, turning back to face the board. Skye chuckled behind her and she ground her teeth together.  
_He's just goading you into a fight Jill, ignore him. Breath. _She inhaled deeply and then exhaled, tapping her pen to distract herself. She began to formulate a plan and couldn't help a sly smile from emerging on her face.

The bell rang for the end of the day, students flocked out of the classrooms, milled in the corridors and in the locker room. They grabbed coats and jumpers, dumped books and changed shoes. Vaughn, Skye and Kai were walking through the school gates, bickering about Mario Kart and food and the intelligence levels of a certain bandanna-clad beach boy when Skye was suddenly hurled to the ground. Kai jumped,  
"It's the crazy brunette!" Jill wrestled Skye, protesting and kicking, to submission, pinning his arms together behind his back,  
"You're coming with me!" She bound his hands with Mark's tie, "Resistance is futile!"  
"Jill!" The brunette looked up at Claire.  
"What?"  
"We've got to _you know._" Claire said. Mark nodded next to her. Jill frowned,  
"Eh?"  
"That thing, you know, at the..."  
"Stop trailing off, I'm not psychic, I don't know what you're trying to say." Skye wriggled beneath her knee,  
"Hehe, I know you can't keep your hands off me, but could you please let me up?" Jill dug her knee into his back and he shut up.  
"We need to go visit _you know_." Claire persisted.  
"_Oh... _Yeah, how could I forget? Let's go!" She jumped off Skye's back and ran to join Claire.  
"Hey!" Skye yelled, wriggling some more, "This is undignifying, at least untie me!" Jill turned and stuck her tongue out at him, walking away with Claire. Mark crouched next to him, retrieved his tie, and ran after the two girls,  
"Wait up!" Skye stood and dusted his front off, glaring at Kai and Vaughn. They finally let their facades fall and snickered at his unimpressed face.  
"Why the hell didn't you help me?" Vaughn snorted, Kai burst out laughing.  
"Y- you were j- just so funny!"  
"You got your ass beat by a girl. _Again._"  
"Shut-up, you fight her!"

The hospital was quiet. An old lady sat shuffling through papers at a desk and a young brunette that Claire, Jill and Mark had seen around school was going through bottles and packages on a shelf. Neither the older woman nor the girl looked up when the three of them entered. Jill coughed into her fist. Mark looked around awkwardly,  
"So... now what?" Claire shrugged, but walked over to the desk with the old lady anyway.  
"Excuse me?" She looked up,  
"Yes? Can I help you with anything?"  
"Is Chelsea Himura still here?" Claire fiddled with her blazer sleeves.  
"Yes, she's..." She shuffled through the papers on her desk, "...in room 3, it's just up the stairs and down the hall. I'm guessing you're here to visit?"  
"Um, yeah." The old lady took up a pen and a notebook,  
"Names please?"  
"What? Oh- I'm Claire Beasley, this is Jill Suzumiya and Mark Harrington." The woman nodded, scribbled down the names and let them go up.

The door slid open and Chelsea looked up. She grinned,  
"Hey guys!" Mark ran in,  
"Chelsea!" He leapt onto her bed and hugged her. "You worried us sick!"  
"Yeah!" Claire joined them, shaking Chelsea by the shoulder, "Don't do that to us."  
"No. Never again." Jill punched her in the arm, then jumped onto the bed too. Chelsea laughed and pushed them away,  
"Get off me, you're hurting my head." Mark stuck his tongue out at her, but they all shuffled back. They joked and laughed and Mark and Jill tried to push each other off the bed until Chelsea had to tell them to stop. Claire brought up drinks and snacks from the general store across the street and they had a mini celebration. Nobody asked what happened, they figured Chelsea would tell them when she felt like and besides, they were having fun now. They didn't want to ruin it.

It was late at night when Jill, Claire and Mark left. As they came down the stairs and rounded the corner, they saw Vaughn standing at the desk with the old lady. She was scribbling something down in her notebook. When he saw them, he tugged his stetson over his eyes and looked away. The three of them let it lie and left.

Kai sat, tapping his fingers against the wooden table. Skye walked into the kitchen, putting a fresh plaster on the scrape on his arm.  
"What're you so down about?" He asked, binning the old plaster, "Get beat up by a girl?" Kai snorted and Skye smirked at the small victory.  
"Have you seen that sign up in the inn?"  
"Which one?" Skye asked, rummaging through the cupboards for the right sized pan.  
"The help wanted one, they're taking on staff in the kitchen. I think I'm gonna check it out."  
"Go for it, that way we'll be eating something other than porridge and pineapple all the time." Kai raised a brow,  
"Is that so? Why don't you learn to make something other than curry then?"  
"Sacrilege." Skye said. Kai rolled his eyes,  
"What're you cooking then?" He asked sarcastically. Skye smirked,  
"You've got a choice between green curry and red curry." Kai raised his hands,  
"Oh, how could I possibly decide?" They laughed,  
"Alright. I'll get Vaughn to decide."  
"Nah, he's out." Kai said, "Wouldn't say why, he just said he wouldn't be back till late."  
"Ah... Methinks the cowboy is off frolicking under the moonlight." Kai snickered, then burst out laughing,  
"Classic!" He snorted suddenly and fell off his chair. Skye rolled his eyes and finished cooking. They ate quietly, Skye finishing quickly and dumping his plate in the sink,  
"I've got an errand to run, see you tomorrow." Kai mumbled 'seeya' through a mouthful of rice and waited until the door shut before jumping up. He pulled out half a pineapple form the fridge and cut some up, adding it to the curry. For a moment, he stood there, admiring his handiwork. Then he dashed to get his camera.

_In olden times when wishing still helped one, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful, but the youngest was so beautiful that the sun itself, which has seen so much, was astonished whenever it shone in her face. Close by the king's castle lay a great dark forest, and under an old lime-tree in the forest was a well, and when the day was very warm, the king's child went out into the forest and sat down by the side of the cool fountain, and when she was bored she took a golden ball, and threw it up on high and caught it, and this ball was her favourite plaything._

_Now it so happened that on one occasion the princess's golden ball did not fall into the little hand which she was holding up for it, but on to the ground beyond, and rolled straight into the water. The king's daughter followed it with her eyes, but it vanished, and the well was deep, so deep that the bottom could not be seen. At this she began to cry, and cried louder and louder, and could not be comforted. And as she thus lamented someone said to her,  
"What ails you, king's daughter? You weep so-_

Chelsea looked up as the door opened. Vaughn dipped his head and shut the door behind him,  
"Mirabelle asked me to give this to you." He said, lifting up a basket, "Said she's sorry she can't come visit." Chelsea smiled and placed her book down on her lap,  
"Is it busy at the shop?" Vaughn nodded and put the basket on the small table beside her bed. "I hope they let me out for weekend, I don't want to let her down." Vaughn stuck his hands in his pockets and stood awkwardly,  
" 't's not your fault. I mean, Mirabelle won't mind." Chelsea smiled and shrugged,  
"Still. How's Tetsu doing anyway? Is she alright?"  
"She's fine, Mirabelle's taking real good care of her." Vaughn rolled his shoulders, "I'm gonna go now anyway." Chelsea nodded,  
"Okay. Oh, will you tell Mirabelle thanks for me?" Vaughn huffed, pulled his stetson down a little and shut the door behind him, muttering.  
"_What a pain..._"

Chelsea took the basket onto her lap, shaking her head with a smile, and lifted the cloth covering it. A get well soon card sat atop a pile of homemade pastries and a bottle of milk. Chelsea opened the card and laughed; a muddy pawprint smudged the writing in the top right corner and someone had drawn an arrow to it and written, _She misses you!_ All over the card were small messages, telling her to get better and that they hoped she was doing okay and that hospital food wasn't too bad. Each message was signed by a different person: Julia, Mirabelle, Elliot, Natalie, Liz and Nina, Takakura... Chelsea hardly even knew all of these people! Yes, all of them had dropped by the animal shop every so often, but they had rarely talked to each other and yet they all wrote in the card for her. It was heartwarming and uplifting.  
"I can't wait to get out of here and thank them all." She murmured to herself, "I'll have to give them something in return..." Her eye caught a little message hidden away amongst the others that she had missed before and she pulled the card closer to read it.

_Vaughn refused to write anything for you  
so I wrote something for him.  
(To be read in your best grouchy-cowboy voice):_

_Chelsea, you'd better get out of hospital  
soon; those cows don't milk themselves.  
Vaughn.  
(Julia)._

Chelsea laughed and placed the card on the bedside table. She took out one of the pastries in the basket, stomach starting to claw at her in askance for food. She bit into it and sighed,  
"That's so much better than hospital food..."

The next day hailed a whole-school assembly and for the first time in all their years attending Tani no Yuki High School, the boys (not so much the girls) were finally going to get a glimpse of their headmaster. Excited murmuring ran through the hall, none of them had been in an assembly since they came up into high school. Everybody wanted to know who exactly their mysterious headmaster was. The curtains of the stage were finally drawn open to reveal-  
"He's a- he's the hulk!" Kai cried out, voice bursting about the muted murmuring in the background. Silence followed like a desert wind. The headmaster coughed into his fist and addressed the whole hall,  
"Thank-you for that outburst Mr. Summers," The assembly laughed and started talking amongst themselves. The headmaster banged a wooden mallet against the podium,  
"There are urgent matters to attend to." He boomed over the crowd and they hushed. "Actually, there's just one urgent matter- wait. First of all, I am Felix, your headmaster. You may call me Headmaster Felix!" The assembly was quiet and Felix cleared his throat,  
"Yes. Well. The urgent matter I must inform you of is the recent funding cuts, well. Not exactly. Basically, because all of the girls came, the school no longer has the money to pay for your living expenses. So, you dirty little leechers, go out and get jobs! And if you want to take your anger out on anyone, blame the girls!"  
"Hey! Stop being immature!" A girl yelled somewhere in the crowd. Felix shrugged and the curtains fell back into place. As if it were a planned signal, all hell broke loose.

It started with the girls yelling about unfair treatment and the boys shouting about only the girls having to get jobs. Then somebody accidentally elbowed somebody else in the face and that person wasn't too happy so they pushed back and soon there was a group of five or six pushing and shoving and then it started to degrade to kicking and biting and then started to spread out which, as you can probably tell, was not such a good thing. You see, teenagers are notoriously violent and quite the unstoppable force so when the teachers in all their wimpy gloriness tried to stop the fighting, they soon realised they had come too late and the brawl was now an unstoppable force of sheer uncontrolled fighting power. If at that moment, the teenagers had decided to take over the school or rule the world for that matter, they would have undoubtably succeeded. However, as it just so happens, brawls amongst teenagers never have the organisational power to start such a task, let alone commit to it and so the school and the world were saved. The teachers, however, not so much. You see, in trying to escape a brawl of angry teenagers you draw attention to yourself. Especially if you have the distinct whiff of wimpy teacher. So the teachers were turned on and dragged into the brawl too.

It took nine hours for it all to die down by which time, night had fallen and everybody was hungry.

* * *

**Yes, Skye can make curry that fast.**

**The book that Chelsea was reading was Grimm Tales and the specific story that Vaughn interrupted was ****_The Frog King/Iron Henry._**

**Name the puppy competition is still open, so PM or write suggestions in a review, but please check back on previous chapters for guidelines. Thanks.**

**There's still a harvest moon related poll on my page, so please check that out too if you feel like it.**

**And I think that's it.  
Till next time, ****_Finf._**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten: Hospital Visits.  
"Hell yeah! That was awesome!" Jill punched the air, "Did you see that guy's face when I got him in a headlock? And that other one that I kicked in the gut? Oh, what about..." Claire and Mark tuned out the brunette's ecstatic blathering. Each were nursing their own separate injuries: a heavy bruise on Claire's arm along with a twisted ankle, and a cut to Mark's forehead which was accompanied by a bruised gut and a trapped muscle in his neck.  
"Actually Jill," The girl paused in her victory speech. "I think I was that guy you kicked in the gut." Jill laughed,  
"Seriously? Haha, that's great!" Mark stumbled over her unconventional answer, started to say something, then gave up.  
"Jill, aren't you injured at all?" Claire gave the brunette a look over. She was practically unscathed aside from the messed-up ponytail and crooked jumper. Jill laughed to herself and seemed about to ignore the question altogether, then:  
"Actually, I think I broke three of my fingers." Claire sighed and turned the whole group around,  
"Come on, to the school clinic with you..." Jill groaned, complaining that they were a trophy of her victory. Claire stated that they could be a trophy in a cast and pulled her back into the school.

The queue for the clinic extended up one flight of stairs and two corridors. Mark slumped against the wall,  
"Man... Can I go home?" Jill glared at him,  
"No way. You're suffering through this with me." He groaned, eyelids drooping.  
"I object..." Claire sighed, watching as Mark slowly slid down the wall like a wilting flower. The mouldy kind.  
"You can go home Mark, I'll make sure she's looked to." Without another word, Mark turned with the wall for support and dragged himself back out of the school building. Jill huffed and sulked,  
"You're just trying to torture me."  
"It will do your heathen soul good." They waited in line for over an hour and managed to move half a corridor closer to the clinic before deciding that they were wasting their time. However, much to Jill's annoyance, Claire hadn't given up on fixing her broken fingers and so the two of them trekked all the way into the village to the hospital.

They weren't the only ones to have had that idea though. When they entered the hospital, Claire stiffened and grit her teeth. Jill looked about, beginning to feel a little dazed, what with the late hour and the energy she had just exerted over the course of nine hours.  
"What is it?" She asked, not particularly paying attention to the answer. Claire glowered over at the three boys sat in the seats lining one wall. Kai, Vaughn and Skye didn't seem to notice them and Jill didn't seem to see them either. Instead, her eyes caught onto the blue-ish-silver haired boy with the permanently squinted-shut eyes sat nursing his side. She beamed and jogged over to him, sitting in the seat next to him and leaving Claire to her own devices.  
"Hey Toby." She nudged his shoulder and whilst he winced, he still smiled back at her,  
"Jill. I didn't expect to see you here." Jill grinned and lifted her hand to show him her 'trophy'.  
"Broken fingers. What about you, did you kick some butt or did your butt get kicked?" She laughed despite the terribly made joke. Toby chuckled with her,  
"No. Actually, I was one of the ones that you could see being tossed about everybody's heads." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, "I got kneed in the side and then trodden on too." Jill snorted, then pulled him close. She whispered into his ear,  
"You just tip me off on the ones he did it and the problem's solved."  
"Um. I don't think that's necessary Jill." Toby said, though he was sure she was just joking. At least he hoped she was. Claire came up to them then,  
"Alright Jill. You've got a slot booked. When they call you, you follow the doctor into the exam room." Jill nodded and sat patiently. She felt drowsy, but forced herself to stay awake. Moving her gaze about the room was proving quite occupying for her mind at the moment, and that helped to stay the sleepiness.

Kai nudged Vaughn in the arm and he winced,  
"Stop doing that." Kai nudged him again. "I said, stop it." The cowboy hissed, jabbing Kai in the leg. He yelped and gripped his calf,  
"Hey, I got stabbed by somebody's pen there!"  
"And you don't think pushing my dislocated shoulder hurts?" Vaughn retaliated. The two fell into a glaring contest, then turned to face other sides of the room. Skye rolled his eyes and rested his chin on his hand. His back and chest hurt from getting caught in a pile-on. Unfortunately, despite his amazing skills in escaping and running, he was not so adept at scrambling out from the very bottom of a ten-man high pile-on. He didn't need to be at the hospital or the clinic at school though, he was just sticking around for some entertainment. He wanted to know if Vaughn would scream as his arm was being set back into its socket and if Kai would run away from the needle if they had to stitch his stab wound up. At the moment though, it was all proving very boring.

She was pretty, yes. Long blonde hair and bright sapphire eyes had a general habit of making a good-looking girl. Kai rolled this over in his head whilst looking at Claire from the corner of his eye. However, he was beginning to come to the conclusion that telling that to a girl straight-out was offensive. Just because he had reached that conclusion though didn't mean he understood it.  
_I mean seriously, it's a compliment! I thought girls liked flattery and fancy words._ He tapped his fingers against his knee. So if they didn't like that, then what did they like? What did _she _like? Kai paused for a second. Why did he want to make her like him anyway? The only reason he could think of was because she looked good. And yes, she did and it was supposed to be a compliment. She was supposed to take that well. However, it seemed to have the opposite effect and make her angry, almost furious.  
_The female mind..._ He began slowly, _Is a minefield. _

"Vaughn? Could you come into exam room one please?" Jin popped his head around the door of exam room one. Vaughn grunted and stood up, pulling his stetson down slightly. Skye smirked and sat back. Now the entertainment began. For twenty minutes though, no sound came from behind the door and then Vaughn walked out, arm in a sling. He glared at Skye and Kai, silently daring them to laugh at him. Skye was thoroughly disappointed. Kai was called in next, just as a boy came out of exam room two with a bandaged arm. Toby was called up and the two of them greeted each other as they walked past. Jill recognised him as the boy who sat to her left. What was his name? Calum? Chess? No... Chase? Maybe. She couldn't remember. Shouting suddenly erupted from exam room one and the door burst open. Kai dashed out, lagging on his wounded leg. Jin grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him back.  
"_No! Don't bring that needle any closer- no, no!_" Skye chuckled to himself. Entertainment at last. In her seat beside Jill, Claire forced the laugh back down her throat and the smile from her face. Who would have thought he would be so afraid of needles?

They only waited another ten minutes before Jill was called into exam room two.  
"Don't ask questions doc, just fix my hand up." Jill said as she was asked to take a seat on the exam bed. Alex, the doctor in charge of exam room two, gave a glance but nothing more as he inspected her hand. Claire frowned at her friend's flippant behaviour. Alex looked at the broken fingers carefully for a few minutes, then went to the drawers on the other side of the room,  
"Fingers are a little had to fix when you break them," He said, "So all I can do is bandage them together and give them splints. You'll have to try and keep them as still as possible." He came back and placed the small wooden splints against Jill's fingers, then bandaged them together so that she couldn't move them.  
"Alright, keep that on and don't move your fingers for at least two weeks. If you need fresh bandages at any time, drop by and someone will wrap your fingers up again." Alex smiled and pulled out a little pad and pen from his coat. He scribbled down a note and handed it to Jill,  
"If you could come back for a check-up in two weeks that would be good aswell. The date and time are on there." Jill nodded and pocketed the slip of paper.  
"Thanks Doctor Alex." Claire said.  
"I'm not an actual doctor yet, so just call me Alex." He grinned and Claire nodded,  
"Thanks Alex." Then she followed Jill out of the exam room. They were about to leave the hospital when Claire grabbed Jill by the arm and took her to the desk with the old lady.

"Hey, can we visit Chelsea Himura?" The woman looked up at the clock ticking away on the wall,  
"I'm afraid it's a little late for that. We would appreciate it if you let her sleep, it aids the healing process."  
"Oh." Claire said, "Okay then, we'll come back some other time." The two of them left to go home and sleep.

A week and a half passed and Chelsea was finally let out of the hospital on Friday afternoon. It was still school hours, so nobody was there to say things like 'congratulations' or to take her home like in the movies and books. Whilst it was a little of a downer since she had hardly seen anyone for a week except for the odd visit now and then when they had the time, she couldn't complain. Instead of going home though, she went to the animal shop to see Tetsu and return Mirabelle's basket. Vaughn had visited since delivering it, instead Mirabelle's daughter had been the one to come by. She was nice, chatty, but nice and the two of them had gotten along well. Chelsea pushed the animal shop door open and the bell tinkled overhead. Barking met her immediately and then the sound of skittering claws. Chelsea grinned as Tetsu leapt up, forearms going over Chelsea's arm, she supported the ecstatic rottweiler as she tried to lick her face.

"Tetsu, I've missed you! Have you been doing okay? Have you? Yeah, you haven't you!" She laughed as she got a faceful of Tetsu's snout. Mirabelle came through from the stock room then, chuckling,  
"Chelsea, you're out of hospital! How wonderful!" Chelsea let Tetsu drop down onto all fours again and continued rubbing her behind the ears and around the neck,  
"Yeah, I'm sorry I couldn't work last weekend." She managed to say before Tetsu demanded her full attention again.  
"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Mirabelle scolded, "You were in hospital Chelsea, and for helping an animal in need too. You're under no fault at all."  
"All the same I'll work the rest of the day and the whole weekend if you want me too." Mirabelle gave her a look and shook her head,  
"Shouldn't you be resting-"  
"No, I've rested for over a week, please let me work?" Mirabelle sighed and conceded,  
"Fine, but you're back to your normal shift next week. I don't want you exhausting yourself."  
"I won't." Chelsea grinned, standing up and giving Mirabelle her basket back. Tetsu nudged at her hand with her nose and Chelsea giggled, crouching down to play with her for another few seconds,  
"Just let me talk to Mirabelle alright? Then you'll get all the attention you want." She stood back up, "Thanks for the pastries and the card, I'll definitely repay you." Mirabelle rolled her eyes,  
"You most certainly will not." She laughed, "Now get brushing those cows!"

Chelsea was humming quietly to herself as she brushed the cows in the barn. Tetsu lay basking out in the sun just outside the barn. Chelsea counted off the weeks in her head. The birth was in six weeks when she had injured her head and landed herself in hospital. Taking away a week, almost two now...  
_Four weeks._She thought. Her breath shuddered out and she had to still her trembling hand with the other for a moment. The cow she was brushing lowed and she apologised to it, starting to brush it again.  
"You've got the wrong brush." Chelsea screamed and jumped, whipping around. Tetsu was at her side within the second, growling.  
"Would you stop doing that? I'm seriously going get kicked one day." Chelsea cried, glaring. Vaughn smirked,  
"Get the right brush then next time." He walked over to the crate with all the equipment on and brought back a different brush, "This one's for the cows. You're using the one for the sheep."  
"Oh. Right." She took the brush, then noticed Vaughn's arm was in a sling. "What happened to your arm?"  
"Agh." He pulled his stetson down, "I dislocated it in a whole school brawl." Chelsea laughed, starting to brush the cow again.  
"Jill, Claire and Mark told me about that, I wish I could have been there." Vaughn shook his head and went to the sheep to brush them down. Tetsu, after deciding that Vaughn was no longer a threat, ambled off back outside.  
"You wouldn't be thinking that if you'd seen it." Chelsea laughed and shrugged,  
"Well, I'll take your word for it. Who dislocated your shoulder?"  
"No idea." Chelsea poked her head over the cow,  
"Was that... humour I sensed in your voice then?" Vaughn looked up, giving her an odd look. "My Goddess... it was, wasn't it!" She laughed and ducked back behind the cow, dodging his glare. He huffed and stood up,  
"Are you making fun of me?" His voice was deadly serious. Chelsea stumbled over her own enthusiasm.  
"Um-"  
"Lead the cows outside. Come on, it's punishment, lead 'em out." Chelsea's lips curved up into a smile, he wasn't mad.  
"Fine then. And I bet I can do it better than you."

Chelsea pushed the last cow and fell flat on her face as it moved unexpectedly. Again. For the sixth time. Vaughn snickered and she pushed herself up, dusting off her clothes. She gave him an unimpressed look and he snorted, then started laughing. He quickly yanked his hat down, trying to cover his face. Chelsea's lips trembled, then she too burst out laughing. Tetsu blew through her nose and shuffled, crazy humans.

* * *

**MUWAHAHAHA! I'm on a roll. However, I think it's about to end so I apologise in advance for that!**

**Thank-you to everyone who has reviewed so far. Some of you may know that I answer reviews via PM, so please don't feel down if I don't always say thank-you in the A/N, I really appreciate all of your support! I will answer reviewers who don't have accounts or PM switched on in the A'N so here goes:**

**_IEU:  
_****Your name entries have been noted, so thank-you! Also, if you want to find Skye in Harvest Moon DS Cute, then you have to have met the Witch Princess first (go to the Lumina's mansion at night (or the day, I can't remember). After you've done that, go to the mansion again at night (it has to be a clear day) between 10 pm and midnight. You should run into him. **

**Everyone else, as usual the name the puppy competition is still open to contestants so please check back on previous chapters for guidelines and information.  
There is also a harvest moon related poll on my page if you want to check that out.  
Thanks and bye for now.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: This Time Around!  
Jill grinned to herself, she had him now. He wouldn't escape her this time, nothing would stop her! Skye, unsuspecting Skye, oh he would get it now. She gripped the tree trunk, feeling the adrenaline begin to rush. She ran through the plan again in her head: charge, tackle, tie up and drag back to her house. Maybe knock out with a book if needs be. She was going to make him study as if her reputation depended on it! Which it did. Okay, _three, two-  
_"Jill!"  
"_GAH!_ Claire! You just ruined it, my perfect plan and you ruined it!" Skye stopped in his tracks, slowly turned around... He bolted. Bolted like a rabbit fleeing a fox. Jill pressed her forehead into the bark of the tree trunk.  
"Sorry?" Claire tried, but the apology was wasted on Jill. "I just thought you would want to know that Chelsea's out of the hospital." Jill perked up immediately,  
"She is? Let's go round to her house then!" Jill grabbed Claire by the wrist and dragged her to Chelsea's house.

Jill knocked on the door. There was no answer so she knocked again and again there was no answer. Claire frowned and the two of them exchanged a confused look.  
"Should we go look for her, or..."  
"We could wait here." Claire mused, "But it'd probably get cold." She nodded. "Let's go look for her. Where else do you think she'd be?"  
"I don't know... walking Tetsu?"  
"Great! Let's check out the forest."

Chelsea was walking back home with Tetsu, enjoying the sunshine after almost two weeks of being cooped up inside. She was just about to cross the bridge over the river when she noticed a small path following the grass verge into a copse of trees behind the old church. Curiosity began to itch at her and after a moment's thought and consulting Tetsu, they walked along the thin path and into the speckled shadow of the trees. The path rounded a corner and then the trees opened up into a small, secluded clearing. Two butterflies danced across the blanket of flowers and over the shimmering pool of water. A robin redbreast sang in the treetops. A group of field mice tumbled about in the grass. Slowly, gradually, Chelsea's face went slack. Tetsu's lead slipped out of her hand.  
_It's... beautiful. _She grinned and stepped further into the clearing, pulling her shoes and socks off. The grass was soft like a cushion of moss beneath her feet. She turned in a circle, looking all around her at this secret little place. She wouldn't tell anyone about it. Ever. It felt so sacred and serene. People coming here would ruin that. They would poison this place. She caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and stopped turning. Looking closely into the mottled shadow beneath the trees behind the pond, Chelsea could just make out a stone statue. She moved carefully through the flowers, making sure not to disturb the wildlife too much, to the statue.

It was a woman, tall and thin with long hair in two ethereal braids that wound around behind her back. At her feet was a small stone plaque and Chelsea knelt down to read it, squinting through the moss.

_The Harvest Goddess,  
protector of all things pure and good,  
voice of the ancients.  
May she bless our valley with peace._

The message was humbling and Chelsea quietly stood up and bowed to the statue, before creeping away. She gently called Tetsu and after one last look back, they left.

Alisa was younger than most who decided to deliver the word of the Harvest Goddess, but she was dedicated and loved nature's protector like a daughter would her mother. That was why, when she looked out of the top window of the church and saw through the the very tops of the trees and girl and her dog standing in the Goddess' clearing, a bolt of panic struck her heart. But, as she had often been told, she was a kindly soul. Patient. She stayed by the window and watched as the girl had stood in utter wonderment. Even when she had approached the statue of the Goddess, she had stood by patiently and not run to Nathan, the priest, to tell him. Even so, when the girl retreated and she and her dog had left, Alisa couldn't stop herself from slumping to the floor with a sigh of relief. Silently she prayed to the Goddess one selfish wish,  
_Please, I beg of you, do not tell anyone of this place. It is too precious to me._

"_Chelsea!_" Claire and Jill cried out as they saw the familiar form of their friends walking down the path from the village. They sprinted to her and skidded to a halt in front of her,  
"Chelsea," Claire grinned, "Where've you been? We've been looking all over for you."  
"Oh, I was at the animal shop." Chelsea scratched the back of her head, "Sorry, if I'd known you'd come looking for me..." Jill rolled her eyes.  
"Whatever, we've found you now."  
"Yeah," Claire nodded, "We're glad you're out of the hospital. Mark said you could copy his notes so you don't get left behind in class."  
"Great!" The three of them began walking, "I was dreading having to catch up by myself. I'll probably go see him now so I know what we're learning on Monday."  
"What? You're leaving us already?" Claire asked.  
"Sorry, but schoolwork calls!" Chelsea ran off, giving them a wave. Jill huffed,  
"Well we just wasted our afternoon." Claire giggled and patted her on the shoulder,  
"Lighten up, it's something she'd have to do sooner or later."  
"Well, whatever, I'm going home. Seeya."  
"Yeah, bye."

Jill flipped her rucksack onto her back and left the house. She sped down the paths to the village and through the gates of Cedar Farm; Takakura had told her last week that the spinach seeds she had planted would be almost ready to harvest this week.  
"Hey Takakura!" She yelled, dumping her rucksack by the shipping bin. "Where are you old man?" Jill knocked on his door, "Old man? Old man, where the hell are you?! Open up, it ain't funny!" Jill curled her toes anxiously and tried the door. It didn't budge.  
_Something doesn't feel right._ She spun away from Takakura's house and jogged onto the fields. The air suddenly lodged in her throat at the sight before her. Her legs locked for a second.  
"T- Takakura!" She forced the muscles to push into a sprint and she dashed towards the collapsed form, falling to her knees by Takakura's side.  
"Takakura! Old man," She shook his shoulders, "Old man, wake up. Are you okay? Come on, wake up!" He didn't move. Jill desperately pressed her ear to his chest. A heartbeat, a heartbeat...  
_There!_ Jill let the air rush from her lungs and she slumped. He was alive. But something had obviously happened to him... She looked around the fields. Nothing out of the ordin-  
_The spinaches!_ Or lack thereof; all that was left of them was a patch of dug-up earth. They had been stolen and there was only one thief that Jill knew of. She growled.

_Skye._

Afraid to move him, Jill had run to the hospital to fetch help for Takakura. Once she had twitched and rushed her way through all of the enquiries, she had torn through the doors and raced out of the village. She would hunt that bastard thief down and she would kill him, tear his guts from his flesh and make damn sure that every single nerve in his body screamed in white-hot agony.

The door shuddered and groaned. Kai stumbled down the stairs as another bang resounded through the wood. It shook again. Another bang and the sound of splintering door. Kai paused with his hand on the doorknob. A momentary lapse in the attack and he cautiously opened the door,  
"Yes-" A boot flew under his arm, tips of the sole scraping his skin. Frozen in shock, he was unable to stop the crazy brunette as she charged past him, screaming uncomprehendingly.

The fact that Skye was sleeping didn't register in Jill's mind as she tore down his door. She grabbed him and sent a right hook to his face. He jumped, waking up. Fervently, his eyes darted around the room before they latched onto Jill- She punched him again,  
"You bastard! Why the hell would you do that?! He's in hospital you asshole!" A left hook sent Skye off the bed and he scrambled to his feet,  
"Pony, what're talking about-" He ducked an elbow to the temple, narrowly avoiding the following uppercut.  
"I'm talking about Takakura you no-good rotten piece of shit!" She landed a left jab to his cheek and Skye stumbled, running into a chest of drawers. He grabbed it for support and wiped at the blood that dribbled from his nose. The moment's reprise ended abruptly as Jill's fingers wrapped around his neck and drove him into the wall. He choked and gripped her wrist.  
_Don't hit her, don't hit her. Be a-_ His air supply suddenly halved as she tightened her grip. _-Gentleman._ He was becoming increasingly aware of the lights and the shadows in the room, the feel of the cool wall against his back and the carpet between his toes. His vision swam in a pool of fuzzy dots and he gave shuddering gasps to gain air - any amount, just something to keep his head above the water. Suddenly her hand was torn away and he collapsed to the ground, gasping and coughing. His vision began to clear and he caught the vague images of Kai wrestling Pony from behind, trying to immobilise her. Her elbow suddenly jerked up and Kai cried out in pain, falling backwards. Jill pulled herself to her feet and glared at Skye. He smirked, letting his hand fall from his neck.  
"Let's dance shall we?"

The sun was shining. That alone was enough to make Chelsea smile. The grass in the fields swayed in the tender breeze. Chelsea grinned and poked Vaughn in the side,  
"It's such a nice day isn't it?" Vaughn looked at her from the corner of her eye,  
"What're you doing?" Chelsea's bright mood shattered, replaced by a haze of confusion.  
"Uh- Friendly small talk?" Vaughn stopped guiding the sheep out into the fields and turned to her with steely eyes,  
"Look, just because I laughed yesterday doesn't mean you can poke me in the side and make small talk. It doesn't mean I've opened up to you and it definitely doesn't mean we're friends." His eyes turned to slits, "Got that?" Chelsea stood, stunned and unable to speak. Vaughn tch-ed and led the last of the sheep out to graze, following after them. Chelsea stood, not registering anything, for longer than she cared to remember. Then finally, in a heartbeat, she realised what had just happened. Her eyebrows met in a frown and she jerked her chin up with distaste.  
"Fine then," She turned and stalked towards him, each step strengthening her determination and willpower. She was close now, her hand went to grab his shoulder. She'd turn him round and tell him what was what, that's what she'd do-  
"Chelsea!" Julia's high voice broke through unexpectedly and Chelsea jumped, yanking her hand away. Vaughn looked around to the back door of the shop where Julia stood. Finding nothing of interest, he turned back to tending the sheep. Chelsea's chest tightened in a panic, had he seen her? She'd just made a fool of herself, she knew it-  
"Chelsea, come on. I need you in the shop." Julia called again.  
"Oh, r- right. I'm coming." Chelsea rubbed at her warm cheeks and jogged over. Julia grabbed her by the shoulder and dragged her inside.

"What were you _thinking?!_" Julia hissed, crouching in the store room. Chelsea opened her mouth, but was quickly shushed, "Wait, were you even thinking at all? I bet you weren't. Urgh." Julia pressed her palm into her forehead and took a seat on a bag of feed. She waved for Chelsea to do the same,  
"Look." The blonde said, "I don't think you're stupid for thinking Vaughn was being all friendly with you - I made the same mistake years ago - but marching up to him like that? What were you gonna do, punch him? Shout at him? Trust me when I tell you that's not a good idea. I saw him break a guy's arm once and he didn't even look like he was trying; to be honest Chelsea, I don't think he'd be that opposed to hitting a girl if she pissed him off enough either." Julia bit her lip and waited for it to sink in. Chelsea fiddled with her fingers, then looked up with a confused, hopeless look in her eye,  
"So I'm supposed to let him throw me around like that?" Julia sighed,  
"No- I mean- Agh, I don't know. Vaughn's Vaughn, you've got to judge his mood and step carefully around him. Just leave him be and maybe after six years or so he'll be open to the odd five-second conversation with you that isn't work-related." Chelsea dipped her head and sighed,  
"Fine." Julia smiled,  
"Don't worry, he may be a grumpy cowboy, but he's not one to hold grudges despite that being a first impression of his. He'll have dropped it by the time you get back out there."

"Claire," Liz, Nina's mother, called from the shop's back door. Claire looked up from planting up some saplings. "There's a man asking for you at the till."  
"Oh, right." Claire stood and brushed the soil from her hands. She followed Liz into the shop, but stopped when she saw who exactly the visitor was.  
"What are _you_ doing here?" She bit out. Kai let out a relieved sigh,  
"Thank the Goddess. Claire, you've gotta come sort that crazy brunette out-"  
"Hey!" Claire bit, "That's my friend you're calling crazy."  
"Whatever, just hurry and come with me. If you don't sort her out quick she'll kill Skye. I'm not kidding!"  
"What do you mean? What's going on?"  
"I'll explain on the way. Hey, Lady, I need to borrow Claire but I'll bring her right back." Kai told Liz before grabbing Claire by the wrist and dragging her out of the shop.

Claire protested the kidnapping for a full three minutes before finding she was getting nowhere. Kai took the opportunity to fill her in: Jill broke into their house for some reason, even though she didn't know where they lived (this gave rise to Kai calling the brunette a hunting dog which Claire didn't appreciate in the slightest), then beat Skye up a bit before he managed to escape, however Jill chased him and the two were wrecking the entire house. Kai and Claire stopped in front of the splintered front door, chests heaving from the run. From inside came the sounds of smashing glass and cracking furniture. Claire took one deep, shuddering breath before stepping over the threshold.

The first thing that hit her was the Mario Kart game - quite literally. It ricocheted off of her shoulder and smashed a lamp in the hall. The next was the sight of a silver blur leaping from a kitchen worktop to the light hanging from the ceiling. Skye swung from it to the dining table, landing like a well-practiced cat. Jill charged after him, vaulting the kitchen worktop and crashing into the table, taking it down in one fell swoop. Skye had already leapt onto the back of a chair though and flipped to the floor. He smirked and winked at Jill,  
"Come now, is that the best you can do?" Jill pushed her hair back and huffed through her laboured breaths. She grabbed a different chair and hurled it at him,  
"You think you can make jokes about something like this?!" She shouted, charging at him. He ducked and dodged multiple punches and kicks, "You make me sick!" Jill grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, planted her feet on the ground, twisted her body around- Skye flew through the air, propelled by the force of the throw. Kai cried out, shoving Claire to the side. The blonde gasped, falling to the ground as Skye collided with Kai and the two crashed to the ground.

With a groan, Kai pushed himself up, Skye rolling off his back. He was heavy, like a sack of wet flour. When he rocked onto the floor, he let out a low, muffled moan but was otherwise silent. Kai struggled to his feet, cracking his back. Jill made to grab Skye again.  
"Jill." Jill halted. She looked round and saw Claire who shook her head. Jill took a step back. Silence hung thick and heavy in the air for a moment. Then Kai cleared his throat,  
"Sorry about pushing you." He said, trying an unsure smile. Claire shrugged, then turned it into a roll of her shoulders,  
"It's fine. I mean, it's not - you shouldn't push people - but, um. That's a general rule I guess..." She trailed off, cheeks glowing red, "You get what I mean." Kai grinned and nodded,  
"Yeah," He laughed, "I do."

"Well I had an eventful morning and it's not even eight o' clock." Kai stated as he strode through the doors to the kitchens in the inn. Chase, a classmate, looked up from the washing up.  
"Oh yeah, care to tell me about it?" Kai grinned and donned his new apron. He picked up a tea towel and started drying a knife,  
"Well..."

* * *

**Um... yeah. I've looked back on the previous chapters (sorta anyway) and have discovered numerous errors with spelling etc. so whenever I can be bothered, I'll correct those along with the breath/breathe mistake that Lucy Kay pointed out.  
Half term holidays have ended and so school duties call e.g. less time to myself. However, I will continue to procrastinate and post chapters as often as I can. Hehe, don't keep your hopes up.**

**As per usual, the name-the-puppy contest is still open so look back on previous chapters for guidelines/rules etc.  
You know the drill.**

**_IEU_**** - ****_If you look up USHI NO TANE on google, it's a website for all the harvest moon games. look on the left-hand menu for Harvest Moon DS Cute. From there, use the right hand menu to look for 'bachelors' and you'll be taken to a page with all the bachelor info on. If you click on Skye, that might be more helpful on how to find him (I was operating on memory, so I probably missed something out. Sorry ^^ )._****  
****_Anyways, I hope you found Skye already and you might already know about Ushi no Tane, so that might have been useless information._**

Guest - I agree with you on that one, and thanks for saying so. It gave me a fun idea to roll with, so thanks again!

**Okay, I think I've said everything I need to.  
Thanks for reading and I hope to see you in chapter 12.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve: Bedside Guardian.  
The rustle of soft footsteps and fabric rubbing together as someone walked by the half-open door. Jill looked out into the hall, vision fuzzy as she tried to keep herself awake. The beeping of the heart monitor, soft and consistent, lulled her further into the warm embrace of sleep. The throbbing in her knee from where she had whacked it chasing Skye was far in the background now, distant. Almost nonexistent. She inhaled languidly, sighing as her eyelids drooped down one final time. The beeping of Takakura's heart monitor continued on.

When Jill came to, it was three in the morning. The sky was still pitch black outside and the moon illuminated thin, shafted paths across the room. A figure stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the light in the hall, and for a moment Jill couldn't make out who it was. Her eyes adjusted gradually. She ran her tongue along the backs of her teeth testily when she could finally make out who the person was. Getting to her feet, she ignored the urge to stretch as she walked from the comfy chair to the the door. She gestured for the person to follow her into the hall.  
"Skye." Jill said. He nodded, adam's apple bobbing minutely as he swallowed.  
"Is- Is he alright?" Skye dipped his head towards Takakura's room. Jill adjusted her weight, crossing her arms. She remained silent, a cold fury being spoken. Finally, she looked away with what sounded like a sigh.  
"Head trauma." Skye slowly nodded,  
"I'm sorry, I didn't-" Jill's head shot up,  
"You didn't what? Mean to do it? You didn't mean to land him in hospital? You know what, I can handle you stealing from my friends, I can handle you stealing from me, but I _cannot_ handle you stealing from and injuring the old man." _He reminds me of- he's just like Dad. _Jill paused and shook her head, "You're gonna pay for doing that Skye." She brushed past him, jarring his shoulder on her way to return to Takakura's side. Skye's hand shot out, grabbing her wrist.  
"Look, I'm sorry. Pony, I'm really, seriously sorry. I never meant to hurt him, or anyone, when I'm on a job. I messed up. I admit that and I've apologised for my mistake, what more do you want me to do? What more _can_ I do? I can't magically heal people, Pony." Jill ripped away from his touch,  
"You can start by leaving me the hell alone." She shut the sliding door behind her and the hallway fell quiet. Skye sighed and turned away, beginning the journey back home. He regretted ever stealing from that farm. If he'd known this was how it would turn out, he would have chosen another location. Looking up at the hospital, the still night air wrapping its cool arms around him, he wondered why he felt so guilty. He'd hurt people before, hadn't he?_  
__

"Alright, so to make up for the whole forcing you leechers to go out and work, I have decided to..." The teacher squinted through his glasses at the piece of paper that contained the morning announcements in his hand, "What... Oh, right. I have decided to _throw_ a halloween party in the school. P.S. You'll be funding it." Jill covered her ears as the whole class erupted into complaints and threats. The teacher raised his hands, trying to calm everybody down with what he was probably taught to be 'soothing gestures'. He gave up quickly and just scribbled down the day's work on the blackboard before walking out of the room. Jill's hands fisted, why couldn't everyone just be quiet? So what if the headmaster was being wholly unfair again? They should just deal with it, it couldn't be that hard, could it? She huffed, the growing irritation inside her ticked her off even more. Couldn't they all just shut up? She scoffed. No, of course they couldn't. Kicking her desk leg, she stood up and marched out of the classroom. From the corner of her eye, she saw Claire get up and follow her.

"Jill!" Claire called after the retreating brunette, "Jill, wait up!" Jill broke into a sprint and Claire's jaw jutted out before running after her.

"Miss. Suzumiya, shouldn't you be in school-" Jill dashed past the old lady sitting at the hospital desk and thundered up the stairs. She slowed as she came to Takakura's room, entering and sliding the door shut gently behind her. Falling down into the chair beside his bed, she let out a long sigh, glancing at the old man. His eyes were closed, chest rising and falling. His heart monitor beeped quietly. Background noise.  
"How are you Old Man?" She asked, a smile twitching at the corners of her lips. "I bet those weeds are taking over the farm fast, you should get better soon so I don't have to clear them up at the weekend." She tried a laugh, but it was short and hollow. She hated having to speak to him like this, when he was unresponsive. It felt like talking to a dead man. A corpse. But then he shifted and Jill shot up like a bolt,  
"Old Man?" He wheezed, letting out a breath of dry air like a cold Autumn wind. His brow furrowed and his lids moved to open, but then remained shut.  
"I think," He paused as his voice cracked from lack of use, "You'll be clearing up those weeds." The relief flew from Jill's face and she jabbed Takakura in the shoulder,  
"No way Old Man; if you can talk, you can pull weeds." He half-smiled, before sighing. His face relaxed and his breaths came deep and slow. He was asleep again. Jill rolled her eyes and stood up. At least he was alright. She felt much more stable for having talked to him aswell, much less irritable. She looked to the door to find Claire stood there, arms crossed and foot tapping. The lady who usually sat at the desk was there too. Jill tried a sheepish look and, failing to sway them, stuck her tongue out. Claire walked over and flicked her in the forehead,  
"Come on, we've still got school you know?" Jill groaned, but followed Claire past the old lady and down the stairs,  
"Can't we just skip?"  
"Nope."  
"Agh. You're lame."  
"Shut-up."

It was already break time when Jill and Claire got back to the school. They made their way to the benches where Mark and Chelsea were already sitting, pushing each other as they balanced precariously on the backs of the benches and threatening to throw food in the other's hair. Jill dashed off and pushed them both from behind, laughing as they got a face full of dirt each. Claire rolled her eyes and traipsed after her. The racket Chelsea, Mark and Jill had struck up attracted the attention of half the playground for a moment before everyone went back to their own thing. Jill was in the middle of warding off Chelsea and Mark's fearsome attacks when Toby walked up to them. He cleared his throat and the trio paused, giving him their full attention.  
"Um, I was just checking if you were alright." He looked at Jill earnestly, "The way you ran out this morning and all, everyone thought something bad had happened." Jill stared, then laughed,  
"Nope! Nothing at all, thanks anyway Toby." Toby chuckled along with her and rubbed the back of his head,  
"Well that's good to hear." He went to turn back, then stopped and smiled sheepishly at Jill. "I've got my spare rod with me today if you'd like to come fishing again?" Jill grinned,  
"Sure! I'll meet you at the gates after school." Toby nodded and trotted off back to his friends. Mark slid to Jill's side and elbowed her,  
"_Somebody's_ got a boyfriend~" Jill growled and punched him in the head,  
"Say that again and I'll pull your guts out through your throat." Claire whacked her backside the head and Mark laughed as if he had achieved some small triumph over the brunette, sparking both their competitive streaks and providing an entertaining show for Chelsea and Claire.

Lessons, as usual, dragged by and after what seemed like an eternity to the group of friends, the last bell finally rang. Chelsea and Mark leapt from their seats, sprinting from the classroom and down the stairs, through the already teeming corridors to the locker room to change their shoes and, after hours of sweltering inside a humid, stuffy room, feel the fresh air on their faces.  
"Oh thank the Goddess it's over!" Chelsea cried, throwing her hands in the air. Mark wailed beside her,  
"And to think it's only Monday!" Chelsea shot him a mock glare,  
"Don't say that." She whined. Mark laughed and bumped her shoulder,  
"Come on, let's find Claire. Jill isn't walking with us today, right?" Chelsea shook her head,  
"No." The two wandered around the front of the school, looking for Claire. She turned up a few minutes later and joined up with them.  
"Hey guys, we ready to go?"  
"Mm." Chelsea nodded, hitching her bag up into a more comfortable position, "Yeah." The three of them set off for home, waving to Jill and Toby standing by the gates. Mark grinned with a mischievous glint to his eye and Jill flushed red, brows flying into a 'v'.  
"I'll pull your guts out through your throat!" She yelled. Mark laughed and gave one last wave before hurrying to catch up with Chelsea and Claire.

Jill and Toby traipsed up the rocky mountain path. It wound up one of the valley sides and, according to Toby, would eventually lead to a great fishing spot just after one of the smaller waterfalls that fed the valley's rivers and streams. At that moment, Jill was concentrating on the word 'eventually'; this walk seemed to be taking forever. But the overhangs of the trees and the winding, gnarled roots that they had to dodge and made the walk that much harder were, in all honesty, a sight she'd never want to forget. She couldn't remember what it looked like when she first moved to the valley, it had been late evening and therefore dark, but as she and Toby continued their uphill trek, she decided that she'd stay here, in the valley, for as long as she could. He lips twitched upwards and she lifted her head to the clear, blue sky, a faint wisp of white cloud hemmed with grey making its way slowly through the blue. She wondered just how strong the wind was up there...

"Watch it-" Jill spluttered as she got a branch to the face and stumbled backwards. Toby stopped, a few feet ahead, with his eyebrows tilted down in concern. "There's a branch there." He finished. Jill snorted and pushed branch out of the way,  
"I noticed, thank-you." She let it shoot back into place after she had passed and the two continued on their way. Jill decided that it was probably best if she kept her thoughts on a tight leash for now or she'd end up with worse than a face full of branch.

They walked on, climbing further and further up the hills that hemmed the valley in. The path, previously root-strewn and riddled with small rocks and rough pebbles, grew smoother and the trees receded back to make way for soft green grass that swayed softly when the wind breezed by overhead. The path curved around to the left and ended. There, a swinging bridge ran across the front of a gushing waterfall that fell from the higher hills above them. Toby led the way across the bridge, impervious to the way it swung from side to side with each step. Jill teetered across after him, one hand gripping the rod she had borrowed and the other clinging to the rope rail. Toby cast a smile back her way and she tried to reciprocate it. Her knees wobbled as a gust of wind rocked the bridge harder. Looking back again, Toby took her by the elbow and guided her steadily to the other side. Jill let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding and stood up straight,  
"Thanks." She said. Toby smiled and nodded,  
"The fishing spot is just through that tunnel." He said, pointing to a dark hole in the side of the rock by the waterfall. Jill eyed it curiously,  
"This is turning out to be quite an... odd walk." She noted and Toby's smile turned to a wide grin for a second.  
"It's worth it, I promise." He said, walking into the dark tunnel. Jill followed after him and was soon plunged into darkness.

The tunnel wound down and around, but it wasn't cold and damp like she'd been expecting. Instead, it was warm and the ground was dry. Toby's footsteps ahead of her were comforting in the dark though. Whilst Jill wasn't particularly afraid of the dark, she didn't like the way it removed her sight from her. She liked being able to see what was around her and it was far too easy to fall over when you couldn't see where you were going. But just as she was thinking about the darkness, a light seeped in and gradually lit up the edges of the tunnel. Toby took form in front of her, his hair turning from dark grey to its usual silvery-blue. His hat and fishing rod became visible as they turned the corner and the light pooled into the tunnel with more strength. It opened up and the two of them emerged from the tunnel onto a grassy overhang. Jill blinked at the bright sunlight and squinted at her surroundings. Briefly she considered the possibility that this was the reason Toby had a permanent squint. The cool air created by the waterfall that continued to fall down beside them took away some of the Autumn heat and Jill inhaled deeply, opening her eyes fully as they finished adjusting to the light. Toby poked her with the end of his fishing rod and gestured with it to the semi-deep pool of water at the end of the overhang. As she looked at it, she saw droplets of water fly into it from the waterfall. Toby sat himself down on a rock and cast his line out. Jill pulled herself from her reverie and sat on the grass beside him. It was slightly damp because of the spray from the waterfall. She cast her line out aswell, looking up a Toby,  
"Definitely worth the walk." She said.  
"I promised didn't I?"

Skye breathed out through his nose and tossed the bundle of spinach up and down in his hand some more. He stopped and looked at it. It was just one of the many bundles he had stolen from the farm, but he'd already used quite a bit the night he'd stolen them for a curry dish he'd been planning for a while. He looked at the bag hanging at his hip. Two more bundles sat inside along with a small package. Skye sighed and looked up at Jill's house. It was early evening and a light was on in the window. He watched as Jill came into view with two cups of steaming tea. She had company? He looked back down at the bundle of spinach in his hand. He had planned to pick the lock and leave it inside somewhere; it would have been easier than trying to get Jill to listen to him. But she was home and somebody else was with her. Skye sighed and his head fell to rest his chin on his collarbone. He didn't really want anybody else to know what he had done. Stepping onto the porch, he placed the three bundles of spinach by the door along with the small package, wrapped in brown paper. Silently, like a ghost or a shadow, he departed.

Jill looked out of the window.  
"You alright?" Claire called from the sofa. Jill looked over and smiled,  
"Yeah. Just thought I saw something is all." She sat down next to the blonde and handed her a cup of tea. "What did you want, by the way?" Jill asked, curling up and warming her hands with her own steaming tea. Claire sighed heavily and leaned back into the sofa,  
"I actually wanted to talk to you about earlier today. Takakura specifically." Jill watched guardedly as Claire placed her tea cup on the coffee table carefully. "You... You're okay, right?"  
"I'm fine." Jill tried to be nonchalant about it by adding a shrug, hoping it would end the conversation quicker than snapping at the blonde would.  
"You're not, Jill." Claire pushed, turning to face her fully. Jill looked away. "Jill. You _attacked_ Skye. I know he's not the most moralistic, or even the nicest, person in the world, but you can't go beating him up and trashing his house - other people live there y'know." Claire looked at Jill silently, trying to deduce what she was thinking. It was no use, all she could see was the back of her head.  
"Jill." She tried again, "Talk to me, I just want to help you-"  
"I told you I'm fine." The brunette bit, turning just enough for Claire to glimpse the furious glower in Jill's amethyst eyes. Claire set her jaw, then wiped the tension away. A clean slate. That would work best.  
"Alright then. If you're fine, why don't you tell me about your date with Toby?" Jill whipped around so fast the sofa shifted backwards. That got her attention.  
"For the last time, it wasn't a date!" Claire chuckled and waved her hand,  
"Yes, yes. I know, I was just teasing you." Jill's shoulders sagged and she tipped her head back, ignoring the tea that had sloshed over her leg.  
"It was fine. Toby caught something like five fish - I don't even know how they got in that damn pool, what did they jump out of the waterfall or something?!"  
"Salmon can jump." Claire interjected.  
"Yeah, but- oh who cares?" Jill threw her hands into the air, completely forgetting the teacup in hand. The contents splashed across the carpet and Jill cursed, leaping to her feet with Claire. They got damp cloths from the kitchen and spent a good while dabbing the tea out of the carpet. Jill would have just left it to stain or stagnate - whatever tea did when it was left in carpet for too long - but Claire, being the meticulous 'housewife' type, had forced her to keep dabbing away.  
"This is the last time I get a house with thick carpets." Jill muttered. Claire laughed and told her to get back to work.

Jill showed Claire to the door later that evening, after watching a film. Or maybe two or three... Claire yawned and shivered as the cold Autumn night wrapped around her.  
"Do you want a coat? I've got a spare." Jill offered, pointing to the cupboard under the staircase.  
"No," Claire shook her head, "Thanks anyway though, I'm sure I'll be fine." She went to leave when her toes caught on something and she stumbled. The 'something' skittered across the porch and thunked down the first step.  
"You sure you'll be fine?" Jill joked, stepping out in her pyjamas to pick up the object that had tripped up Claire.  
"Yeah, what is that?" She shuffled closer to Jill, crossing her arms to keep the chill out. Jill shrugged and looked around for a note or a card. Her eye caught on three bundles of spinach by her door and her face soured.  
"It's crap, that's what it is." She spat, tossing the package and going back inside. "I'll see you at school tomorrow Claire, goodnight."  
"Wait!" Claire jammed the door with her foot. Jill sighed and opened it again,  
"What?"  
"Who's it from?" Jill glared off into the distance.  
"That bastard thief-" Claire reached out and placed a hand on Jill's shoulder,  
"Open it." She said with that endearing, honest, heart-on-her-sleeve look that Jill could never say no to from Claire.  
"Fine." She slipped past the blonde and picked up the parcel and the spinach. "I'll open it later." She said.  
"Promise?"  
"Yeah, yeah. I promise." Claire smiled,  
"Good. I'll be making sure aswell." She waved and set off home. Jill rolled her eyes and shut the door.

The bundles of spinach were downstairs in the fridge. Jill lay on her back on her bed. She could smell the tea that had integrated into her pyjamas. The package was in her hands, being turned around and the paper fiddled with.  
_Plain._ Jill thought. What did that say about it. About Skye?

_"I'm really sorry..."_

That's what he'd _said._ Jill sighed and rolled over.

_"Stay the hell away from me."_

That's what she'd said.

The package slipped from her hand and thudded to the floor.

* * *

**Sorry for the super-long wait! I'm in the middle of my exams, but I'm almost out of the thick of it now, so hopefully I'll be updating a little less sporadically.  
Anyway, I know it's a bit of a rubbish chapter, but bear with me please! I plan drama in the next chapter. Maybe. MAYBE.**

**Anyway, constructive criticism is welcome, I hope you're all doing well.  
Thank-you for sticking with me for so long ^_^**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Apologies Are Supposed To Be Good.  
"I'm _trying_ to apologise to you!"  
"Why don't you stop trying and get out of my _face?!_"  
"Why are you so stubborn?"  
"Probably the same reason you're an arse!" Skye and Jill glared at each other, foreheads almost touching. Their chests heaved and their hands were balled into tight fists. Jill had found him the day after he had left her that 'gift' as he had called not two minutes ago. She had thrown his 'gift', still packaged, at his face and declared in front of the entire corridor of students that material goods would never in a million years make up for what he did. This had sparked an arguement between the two which both wasted their time and left the two of them fuming.

"Pony,"  
"Don't call me Pony." Jill shook her head, a look of utter contempt on her face. Skye visibly held back a string of choice, vivid descriptive words.  
"Alright then, _Jill_, let me tell you this," Jill growled at him, preparing to swing her arm back and punch him right in that pretty-boy face of his. "I'm here _apologising_ to you, trying to make _amends_ and you're being a pig-headed brat for throwing it back in my face. If I were you-" Before Jill could even register what she had done, her hand flew up and slapped Skye right across the face. She stared for a moment, arm suspended still, she lowered it slowly as her brows pulled down into a deep V and her lips twisted into the ugly face of hatred.  
"If _you_ were _me?_" She looked straight into the hard, cold stones that Skye's eyes had become. "If you were me, you'd know _exactly_ why I'm not accepting any damn _apology_ _gift_ from a dirty, rotten snake like you." Jill spat at his feet and stalked off. Skye glared after her as the students about him turned back to their conversations and went about their business. He shook his head with a scoff and flounced off in the other direction.  
_What a stubborn brat._

Skye escaped outside onto the fields at the back of the school. They were backed by the sloping sides of the valley and dotted with large trees that a number of students were already eating lunch under despite the damp, dewy grass. With a grunt of mild disapproval, the silver-haired adolescent started towards the border of the valley, looking to escape someone quiet and secluded. Somewhere where there were no people around for miles.

"Skye!" Kai grinned, pulling the straw out of his mouth. He motioned for Skye to come and sit with him and Vaughn, but Skye stormed past without so much as a grunt. He wasn't in the mood to be battered by Kai's optimism. Or Vaughn's heavy 'leave-me-alone' aura.  
"Hey, Skye? Skye! Oh, whatever," Kai gave his back a dismissive wave and turned back to his juice. "That guy can grouch somewhere else." He chewed out around the straw. Vaughn grunted and Kai rolled his eyes. "You two need to learn to have fun."  
"Maybe you need to learn to act your age?" Vaughn lay down on his back and pulled his stetson over his face. Kai puffed out his chest indignantly, pulling the straw and juice away from his mouth,  
"I do."  
"_No_, you-"  
"Hey bandana-boy!"

Kai twisted to look behind him and Vaughn tipped his hat back with a knuckle. A ginger boy with thick, round spectacles was storming over. A girl with candy floss pink hair was latched onto his arm, digging her heels into the ground.  
"Rick, come on, just leave it alone-"  
"Whaddaya want?" Kai drawled lazily, eyeing the girl through a half-lidded gaze with a hint of recognition. He slurped his juice. The boy stopped a few feet away and stomped his foot,  
"Stay away from my sister!" Vaughn quirked a brow. Kai's 'cool' act cracked and he snorted. The juice spurted out of his nose and he fell forwards into a coughing fit.  
"Hey!" The ginger started forward and Vaughn sat up straight, glaring from under the rim of his stetson. The boy stopped.  
"Rick, drop it, please-"  
"No way Popuri!"  
"Oh!" Kai had regained his composure and was stood up now, grinning foolishly. "That's your name, I remember you now-"  
"You _forgot_ about me?" The pinkette stressed, pressing her curled hand to her collarbone. "But we-"  
"That was _last year._" Kai flippantly waved his hand about, "It's old news." He faced the ginger seriously then, "What took you so long, _dweeb?_ If you're really her brother, then why take a year to come face me? Or maybe you're not actually related, this is all just some weird fetish of yours?" The boy blanched and adjusted his glasses sharply,  
"That's a despicable notion! She's my sister, I'd never ever think of her like that-"  
"Then why're you suddenly all pissed at me?" Kai cocked his head to the side, biting at his straw again.  
"I held back when you two were going out for Popuri's sake, but I can't stand it anymore! If you don't stop giving her looks in the corridor I'll-"  
"You'll what?" Vaughn ground out. He towered an entire head over the ginger, a hulking wall of intimidation. "You're logic is seriously out of whack; come back when you've actually got a reason to fight." Vaughn turned around, stuffing his hands into his pockets. The ginger worked his mouth,  
"I never said-" Vaughn turned sharply,  
"Get lost." Kai shrugged,  
"You heard the man, shuffle on."  
"No!"  
"Rick!" Popuri yanked on Rick's arm and he stumbled back a step.  
"Popuri, let me go. I've gotta sort this-"  
"Well maybe I don't want you to! Kai's- He's- I won't let you hurt him." Rick shook his head and tried to step around the pinkette, but she stepped in front of him again. Kai picked up his bag and scoffed quietly. He nudged Vaughn and whilst the two siblings were arguing, they made a quick getaway.

"You made me look so uncool." Kai stated. His voice held mild disdain. Vaughn _tch_-ed,  
"You managed that yourself."  
"You shouldn't have butted in." Kai pressed, shooting a glare at the grouch strolling beside him. His stetson blocked it.  
"They were annoying; I had every right to butt in." Kai rolled his eyes and muttered a disgruntled 'whatever'.

The wind was cool, the air brisk and sharp. Birds circled and swooped across the sky. Up here, everything was calm. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing to think about. There was just just him and the Universe. It was that simple. At least... it would have been simple. Skye stifled a roll of his eyes. He and Jill weren't all so different apparently. She too had decided a walk through the hills and a little time to herself would work to cool her head. And it had, in a way. Even as she and Skye faced off, the wind tugging at their hair, her face was an expressionless mask. She didn't even insult him or glare. It felt like his face was the same, which he supposed helped the situation a little. They were both still. Not poised like snakes about to strike, but still like cranes are still when they're standing in ponds. Except these two opposing cranes weren't about to strike. Jill swallowed and the spell unravelled.  
"You..." Skye prepared for the yelling, the insults. "You did a bad thing." For a split second, Skye was caught between surprise and offense. Where was the apology for being a- "But it was an accident." He moved minutely, he'd take that if it was all she was giving. Jill licked her lips.  
"And I'm sorry for being a bitch. It's just-" She looked at him as if she were trying to prove something, excuse herself. But then she seemed to realise just what it was - a lame excuse to escape the situation. Skye exhaled softly. He took the few steps over to her, pulling the package out of his pocket, and took her hand. Gently, he turned her palm up and placed the package in it. Her fingers wrapped around it carefully and he let go.  
"_I'm sorry._" He murmured, walking away. Jill hung her head. She... felt better for letting it go, even if it did strum a bad string in her. She looked up at Skye's retreating back.  
"Wait." He stopped and turned, agonisingly slowly. "Friday night. You're reading that book." Skye smirked,  
"Maybe."  
"Definitely." Jill shot back with a half grin. It was back to the studying game and... it felt good. She hadn't realised how much fun it had been.

Claire fingered the doorframe thoughtfully.  
"So you haven't seen Jill?" Alex shook his head, placing his clipboard down. It was his shift in the clinic.  
"No, sorry."  
"The aftermath of Jill?" Claire tried. Again, Alex shook his head.  
"No, it's been rather quiet today. I heard there was big kick-off on the second floor at lunch though..."  
"Yeah," Claire sighed and slumped further into the doorframe. In part, she was glad Jill worried her so much because when it came to this kind of situation, it helped to stop her face flushing a bright red. "I heard about that, but that's where the trail ends." She shrugged and peeled away, "Thanks anyway though."  
"It's no problem. Sorry I couldn't be of more help." Claire smiled and lifted her hands in a little shrug,  
"You've been plenty of help. One more checkpoint off my list. I'll see you-" Claire stopped herself. _See you later?_ That was far too friendly. Too close. Instead, she smiled and ducked into the corridor.

Claire checked the hospital, Jill's house, she asked Toby. Chelsea and Mark hadn't seen her either and she wasn't about to ask the bandana-boy and the grouchy cowboy. Sighing, Claire sank into the bench by the stream. The sky had turned a warm golden yellow.  
"I can't believe I've wasted the entire day - and skipped school - just to chase Jill around. She's so selfish sometimes." She closed her eyes, the fatigue catching up with her. She'd add that to her list of what-Jill-is: tiring.

Jill rolled the package over in her hands, gazing out over the vast expanse of forest on the other side of the valley. Smoke rose from a small village buried somewhere amongst the trees and where there were gaps in the canopy, she could sometimes see a winding dirt road. The one road in and out of the valley. Drawing her eyes back to the package, she peeled back the brown wrapping. A pair of fingerless gloves sat inside and she tried them on. The fabric felt tough, hardwearing, and there was a red patch with a little brown pawprint adornment underneath it on the fabric over her wrist. She clenched her fist and they moved well. She grinned, these would be great for working on the farm.

Just then, something down below caught her eye, something travelling through the forest along the dirt road... There it was again!  
_A... cart? _Jill squinted, "Someone new's moving in?"

* * *

**Okay, I wrote this after my maths exam, so excuse any messed-up sentences or missing/mispelled words. Excuses, excuses, huh? I know I said in the last A/N that there would be drama, but... plans go awry. Sorry, I'll try and do better next time!**

**Anyway,  
****Mryhh****, thank-you so much for sticking with this. Those reviews you left really got my brain in gear. Also, I don't plan on leaving this story until it's finished, so don't worry about that! I'm glad you like it though.  
Thank-you for the good luck as well. I'll do my best to update ^_^**

**As usual, if anybody wants to give constructive criticism, then please go ahead!**


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